Surya makes himself available for Mumbai’s second Ranji game

India middle-order batsman Suryakumar Yadav has informed the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) that he is available to play Mumbai’s second Ranji Trophy game scheduled for December 20 against Hyderabad in Mumbai.
“Surya has informed us that he will be available for the second Ranji Trophy game. The selection committee today picked the squad for the first Ranji Trophy game (Vs Andhra) which will be led Ajinkya Rahane,” MCA honorary secretary Ajinkya Naik told The Indian Express.
Yadav returned home some time ago after being away for the past 75 days on India duty. Indian national selectors didn’t pick him for Bangladesh tour to give him “rest”. Suryakumar Yadav’s response is to let Mumbai selectors know that he is available to play Ranji Trophy.
With no competitive games around, Yadav has once again expressed his desire to play domestic cricket. He had been sensational throughout the T20 World Cup where his ability to play shots all-round made him the most dangerous player in the tournament.
Post the World Cup in Australia, Yadav went with the Indian team to play three T20I and three ODIs to New Zealand. He scored an unbeaten sensational 111 in just 51 balls in the first T20I against New Zealand. And his presence is expected to be a big boost for the Mumbai team.
Yadav has 5326 runs from 77 matches at an average of 44.01 and top score of 200 in first class cricket since debuting against Gujarat in 2010. With a sensible strike rate of 62.68, he has 14 centuries and 26 50s to his name, with 756 boundaries and 52 sixes.
Rahane to lead
Meanwhile, the senior selection committee of Mumbai Cricket Association headed Salil Ankola announced its 17-members squad for the first Ranji Trophy game. Apart from Rahane, Mumbai boasts a star-studded batting line up with Prithvi Shaw, Yashasvi Jaiswal as openers and Sarfaraz Khan in the middle order. Jaiswal and Khan are currently in Bangladesh for the India A tour and will be returning home next week.
The selection committee has also picked 17-year-old left-arm spinner and batsman Musheer Khan, younger brother of Sarfaraz, after his big showing in junior cricket. Khan was rewarded Mumbai’s berth after he scored 172 runs in 113 balls against Jammu & Kashmir during the under-25 one day tournament recently.
Squad for first Ranji game: Ajinkya Rahane (Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Armaan Jaffer, Sarfaraz Khan, Suved Parkar, Hardik Tamore, Prasad Pawar, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Tushar Deshpande, Mohit Awasthi, Siddharth Raut, Roystan Dias, Suryansh Shedge, Shashank Attarde, Musheer Khan.