Ranji Trophy 2026-27: Mumbai vice-captain Ayush Mhatre ruled out for a month with hamstring injury

Bombay Batter Ayush Mhatre. (PTI Photo/Kunal Patil) MUMBAI: In a major setback for Mumbai at the start of the Ranji Trophy season, their newly appointed vice-captain Ayush Mhatre suffered a recurrence of his right hamstring injury and has been ruled out for a month. The setback means the young starter is set to miss Mumbai’s remaining three matches in the first part of the Ranji Trophy, TOI has learnt.The relapse is a big blow for Mhatre, who was recently named Siddhesh Lad’s deputy for the Ranji Trophy by the Mumbai selectors.The top batsman earlier suffered a hamstring injury while playing for Chennai Super Kings (CSK), which ruled him out of the second half of IPL 2026. He was subsequently sidelined for nearly five months, missing the T20 Mumbai tournament in June, India A’s tour of Sri Lanka and the Duleep Trophy in August.Mhatre suffered the injury after scoring 48 on the opening day of Mumbai’s first innings against Chandigarh at the Wankhede Stadium. He did not take the field on the second and third day of the 2026-27 Ranji Trophy match. The 19-year-old underwent a medical on Monday while substitute Suved Parkar took his place.At the time of his injury during IPL 2026, Mhatre was CSK’s top scorer in the tournament with 201 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 177.87.Mhatre underwent rehabilitation at the Center of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru. The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) physio has cleared him to return to the Ranji Trophy after he featured in the last round of the Kanga League where he scored 25 for Sainath Cricket Club in a ‘B’ Division match.His latest injury could open the door for in-form Kolkata Knight Riders opener Angkrish Raghuvanshi, 22, to earn a call-up for Mumbai’s next Ranji Trophy match against Himachal Pradesh in Bilaspur from October 18-21. Raghuvanshi struck back-to-back centuries to score 22 for the Tamil-India team against Tamil-India 20103. in Chennai and for the Mumbai Under-23 team against Bengal in Kolkata on Tuesday and respectively.At the pre-season press conference in Mumbai, Mhatre spoke about his preparations after a long injury layoff. Sitting next to him, captain Siddhesh Lad said, “I have been at the nets for three weeks. So the preparation is going really well. And I have some matches in the CoE as well. We (Mumbai team) also played in the MCA-BKC. So it was really good for us to spend some time on the ground. So we are well prepared.”