Ranji Trophy 2016-17: Mumbai squad to face Tamil Nadu announced; Rohit Sharma not included

Indian batsmen Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma were not included in the Mumbai squad to face Tamil Nadu in the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy at Rajkot from January 1. Yesterday, it was reported that Rohit might get the nod after recovering from a thigh injury he sustained during the fifth ODI against New Zealand in October.

There is just one change in the 15-member squad that defeated Hyderabad in the quarter-finals. Under-19 opening batsman Prithvi Shaw was called in to replace Kevin d’Almeida, who scored 9 and 1 with the bat and dropped a sitter in the slip cordon in the second innings against Hyderabad.

Ever since scoring 546 in a Haris Shield first division match, Shaw has been touted as the next big thing in Mumbai cricket along with the likes of Sarfaraz Khan and Armaan Jaffer. Shaw was a part of the victorious Indian team that won the Asia Cup under 19 tournament and was one of the main reasons why India went all the way through.

“All the selectors consulted with the coach and the captain and felt that we should reward Prithvi for his performances. Anyway, the final combination will be decided depending on the conditions in Rajkot,” Milind Rege, the chief selector, told The Hindu on Wednesday.

Just like their opponents Tamil Nadu, Mumbai have some injury concerns as their star performers, Akhil Herwadkar, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane and Dhawal Kulkarni are all ruled out the clash after failing to recover from injuries. Rege also confirmed that both Rahane and Rohit haven’t conveyed anything to him about their return to the field.

Mumbai’s first-choice opener, Herwadkar is yet to be recover completely after fracturing his ankle while Rahane and Kulkarni are out with finger and knee injuries respectively. Herwadkar’s opening partners in the past, Kaustubh Pawar and Jay Bista were overlooked owing to poor form as the selectors decided to go in with an in-form Shaw.

Indian off-spinner R Ashwin and opener Murali Vijay are not included in the Tamil Nadu squad to take on the defending champions in the semi-finals.

The squad: Aditya Tare (capt & wk), Prithvi Shaw, Praful Waghela, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Siddhesh Lad, Abhishek Nayar, Shardul Thakur, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Tushar Deshpande, Royston Dias, Sufiyan Shaikh, Vijay Gohil, Akshay Girap and Eknath Kerkar.