New Delhi: Seam-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur has made a return to captain Mumbai in their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal against Karnataka, starting on February 6 at the MCA-BKC Ground in Mumbai.
Thakur’s return comes after recovering from a calf injury sustained in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He was spotted bowling in the nets at the venue, where Mumbai recently drew their final league stage game against Delhi on Sunday. He will now take over Mumbai’s captaincy from stand-in skipper Siddhesh Lad.
Left-handed opener Yashasvi Jaiswal has also been included in the squad and is on the verge of playing his first Ranji Trophy game since the prestigious first-class season resumed. Jaiswal last played a Ranji Trophy match for Mumbai against Rajasthan in Jaipur in November 2025, where he scored 67 and 156.
Mumbai, the 42-time Ranji Trophy champions, will hope their returning stars will help them challenge Karnataka, the eight-time championship winning team comprising skipper Devdutt Padikkal, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul and Prasidh Krishna. Mumbai finished the group stage as table-toppers of Elite Group D with 33 points.
During Mumbai’s final Ranji Trophy league stage game against Delhi, players were forced to put on masks on their face to protect themselves from pollution caused by nearby construction. It is understood that protectionary sheets will be used on the construction sites when the quarter-final game will be happening.
Other quarter-final clashes in the Ranji Trophy will be between Jharkhand and Uttarakhand at Keenan Stadium in Jamshedpur, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir at Holkar Stadium in Indore, Bengal and Andhra at Bengal Cricket Academy Ground in Kalyani.
Mumbai squad: Shardul Thakur (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Musheer Khan, Akhil Herwadkar, Siddesh Lad, Sarfaraz Khan, Aakash Anand (WK), Hardik Tamore (WK), Sairaj Patil, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Tushar Deshpande, Mohit Awasthi, Omkar Tarmale, Divyesh Saxena and Suryansh Shedge.
(IANS)
