After a chastening defeat to Baroda, followed by a morale-boosting triumph in the State derby against Maharashtra, defending champion Mumbai will have to contend with the absence of a host of its stars as it takes on a spirited Tripura at the Maharaja Bir Bikram College Stadium here from Saturday.
Prithvi Shaw (omitted), Suryakumar Yadav and Shreyas Iyer (personal reasons), and all-rounder Tanush Kotian (India ‘A’ duty) will miss the Group ‘A’ Ranji Trophy encounter, while Musheer Khan continues his recovery from a neck injury he sustained in a car accident last month.
Mumbai called up Akhil Herwadkar, who will vie for the opener’s spot with Angkrish Raghuvanshi, alongside the prodigious talent of 17-year-old Ayush Mhatre, who is coming off a 176-run marathon knock.
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Kotian could be replaced by left-arm spinner Karsh Kothari, who last played a First-Class match in 2018, though off-spinner Himanshu Singh is a like-for-like option.
Meanwhile, Siddhesh Lad and Suryansh Shedge will likely be tasked with filling the large shoes of the Shreyas-Suryakumar duo, and skipper Ajinkya Rahane will be keen on converting starts.
Though Mumbai largely banks on its homegrown talent, a troika of ‘guest’ players will lead Tripura’s challenge at home. Skipper Mandeep Singh, Jiwanjot Singh and Srinivas Sharath lend stability to the host’s batting unit, even as seam-bowling all-rounder Manisankar Murasingh, coming off an 11-wicket haul and a 60-run knock in Tripura’s innings-win over Meghalaya, will be a match for Shardul Thakur.
There will be an interesting family subplot too as the 27-year-old southpaw Tejasvi Jaiswal would want to replicate his younger sibling Yashasvi’s heroics after scoring 13 on debut for Tripura at No. 3.
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The season’s first contest at this venue was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain, but clear blue skies on match eve signalled a repeat was unlikely.
With Mumbai sitting fourth in the standings with six points, it will be keener for a result against second-placed Tripura, which the 42-time champion beat by 10 wickets when the two last met.
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