With Shardul Thakur ruled out due to a calf injury, Shreyas Iyer will lead Mumbai in the remaining group fixtures of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Shreyas, who joined the Mumbai team on Monday, had a long training session at the Jaipuria Vidyalaya Ground, under the watchful eyes of coaches Omkar Salvi and Atul Ranade.
He looked comfortable while batting against the fast bowlers, and also did some catching drills.
“With Shardul still recovering from the injury, it has been decided that Shreyas will captain the team for the last two group league fixtures,” Mumbai’s chief selector Sanjay Patil told The Hindu.
Even though India’s T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube are also expected to play in the next couple of games — against Himachal Pradesh and Punjab — the Mumbai selectors decided to give the captaincy to Shreyas, who is also Shubman Gill’s deputy in the ODIs.
This will be Shreyas’ return to competitive cricket after a spleen injury during India’s tour of Australia last October. The middle-order batter spent 10 days at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru for the last leg of rehab, and as part of the fitness protocol, he also completed his match simulation, having featured in a practice game last week.
As he did not show any signs of discomfort during the match, Shreyas was included in India’s ODI squad for the home series against New Zealand, subject to fitness.
While Shardul has been ruled out, Sarfaraz Khan is set to return to the team after missing out on the last league fixture against Maharashtra due to pain in quadriceps. He underwent scans, but the reports came out normal.
The seasoned campaigner had a long batting session, and looked at ease while facing the fast bowlers and spinners.
Meanwhile, Mumbai has added off-spinner Shashank Attarde to the squad.
