Shardul Thakur ruled out of Ranji Trophy 2023-24 for 2 weeks due to injury

All-rounder Shardul Thakur has been ruled out of Mumbai's second match in the Ranji Trophy 2023-24 against Kerala in Thiruvananthapuram from January 19 due to the ankle injury he reportedly sustained during India's tour of South Africa.

In the first Test in Centurion, Thakur performed decently with the bat but struggled to have an impact with the ball, leaking runs in spades. Mukesh Kumar replaced him for the second Test but India didn't specify any injury at the time.

"He has informed the MCA that he will take two more weeks to recover,” Ajinkya Naik, the Mumbai Cricket Association secretary, told Sportstar. “We are also waiting for an official communication from the NCA (National Cricket Academy).”

The team also excluded Shreyas Iyer, with the middle-order batter set to leave to prepare for India's upcoming five-match Test series against England.

However, Shivam Dube was named in the team and will join the squad after the ongoing three T20I series against Afghanistan.

Mumbai's squad: Ajinkya Rahane (Capt.), Jay Bista, Bhupen Lalwani, Amogh Bhatkal, Shivam Dube, Suved Parkar, Prasad Pawar (wk), Hardik Tamore (wk), Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Atharva Ankolekar, Mohit Avasthi, Dhawal Kulkarni, Royston Dias, Sylvester Dsouza, Himanshu Singh.

"Shardul Thakur will have to wait a while to play his next Test" - Sanjay Manjrekar

After the first Test against South Africa, former batter Sanjay Manjrekar said that although India collectively failed, Thakur might have to take the fall for it by missing Test cricket for a while.

"I understand why they wanted batting depth with Shardul, especially given that they have new players batting at 1,3 & 5 and also Shardul's record in South Africa. I think it is unfair to blame everything on Shardul Thakur. I feel India generally didn't bowl well in that Test match and that didn't allow them a series win," he said on ESPN.

"I fear Shardul Thakur will have to wait a while to play his next Test match. They will have to look at his bowling. It is not that he scored 40-50 with the bat either. He might not play a Test match for a while now as India will find other ways of strengthening their batting," Manjrekar added.

Thakur is not in India's squad for the first two Tests against England either. The series will start on January 25.