Why was Suryakumar Yadav not selected in Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy squad?
Suryakumar Yadav’s continued absence from the pre-season camp was the reason behind his exclusion from the Ranji Trophy squad in Mumbai, a Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) source told PTI on Tuesday.
The former India T20 International captain, now back to the domestic cricket grind after losing his place in the national team, completely skipped the pre-season training routines ahead of the squad announcement. Nevertheless, he made himself available.
Mumbai’s red-ball players have been training for the last month and their training continues on Tuesday at the Cricket Club of India and the Mumbai Cricket Association’s BKC Ground here.
“At the end of the day, it’s a team game. He has no first-hand experience of the red ball and everyone was unanimous in their decision on Suryakumar,” the source said, adding that the selection process would otherwise have to exclude the youngster, which “didn’t seem fair.”
PTI understands that Suryakumar also did not respond about 10 days ago when he was approached for team selection in Mumbai and made himself available later.
However, the 42-time Ranji Trophy winners’ lack of red-ball experience and non-participation in the pre-season camp led to Suryakumar is not named in Mumbai’s 16-man squad against Chandigarh in their season opener from October 11 to 14 here at the Wankhede Stadium.
The door to Mumbai selection is not completely closed for Suryakumar, who was last seen in action during the T20 Mumbai League right after the IPL. He will have to play MCA organized club cricket like Police Shield or Purushottam Shield Tournament to get back into contention.
However, the status quo remains as far as Suryakumar’s white-ball candidature is concerned. Mumbai’s selectors have told the 36-year-old that he will be considered for the upcoming domestic tournaments in the 2026-27 season.
Suryakumar, who led India to their third T20 World Cup title earlier this year, is in line to lead Mumbai but only if Shreyas Iyer, his successor in the national side, is not available.
Meanwhile, former Mumbai captain and India all-rounder Shardul Thakur is out for at least a month and will miss several Ranji Trophy matches after injuring his hand in training.
With Siddhesh Lad leading Mumbai this season, India batsmen Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sarfaraz Khan will be in the squad for the Ranji Trophy opener, as well as regulars in Shams Mulani and Tushar Deshpande, who were part of India A’s 1-0 unofficial Test series win against Australia A recently.
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