Mumbai announce Vijay Hazare Trophy squad; Shams Mulani to lead

The Senior Selection Committee of Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has picked Shams Mulani to lead a 20-member squad for the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy.

The 24-year-old all-rounder Mulani had also led the side previously. It was in the absence of senior cricketers during their Oman tour ahead of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Big guns like Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav are unavailable due to national duties. Hence, the selectors headed by Salil Ankola have bestowed their trust on young batters like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Arman Jaffer. The Mumbai squad also boasts batter Siddhesh Lad, who is known to step up during crunch situations. However, attacking batter Sarfaraz Khan has been left out of the squad.

Shivam Dube, who had decent returns in the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, will play a pivotal role in the middle-order. Veteran fast bowler Dhawal Kulkarni is expected to lead the bowling attack alongside Tushar Deshpande.

Mumbai Squad: Shams Mulani (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Arman Jaffer, Akarshit Gomel, Sagar Mishra, Siddhesh Lad, Shivam Dube, Hardik Tamore, Prasad Pawar, Tanush Kotian, Prashant Solanki, Sairaj Patil, Aman Khan, Atharva Ankolekar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mohit Avasthi, Tushar Deshpande, Atif Attarwala, Deepak Shetty and Parikshit Valsangkar.

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Mumbai to begin their Vijay Hazare Trophy campaign against Tamil Nadu

Defending champions Mumbai, who are placed in Elite Group B, will begin their campaign against Tamil Nadu on December 8 in Thiruvananthapuram.

Along with the two heavyweights, Baroda, Bengal, Karnataka and Pondicherry are also placed in Elite Group B.

The young Mumbai side will have their eyes firmly placed on the illustrious as they look to defend the title. Only Mumbai and Karnataka have managed to defend the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

So far, they have won the trophy four times, the joint-most alongside Karnataka.