In the run-up to the England ODI series early next month, Mumbai will not have India internationals Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shreyas Iyer in the next round of the Ranji Trophy. Iyer played nearly the whole domestic season, including two white-ball tournaments, while the Mumbai trio had previously participated in the previous round, which Kohli and Rahul did not. Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, for example, will be included in the upcoming round beginning January 30. Four days following the planned conclusion of the final Ranji Trophy round, on February 6, the ODI series against England begins in Nagpur.
After the BCCI's new rules required playing domestic cricket, Rohit and Jaiswal, who open together in Test matches as well, opened for Mumbai against Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in the previous round. Following India's back-to-back series defeats to Australia and New Zealand, which prevented the team from qualifying for the World Test Championship final, the board issued the directive, particularly because India's batting lineup was unable to produce significant runs. With an average of a pitiful 10.93 this season and just 164 runs from his previous 15 Test innings, Rohit in particular has been one of the worst of the group. When he batted for Mumbai, his luck didn't improve; he only managed to score 3 and 28 against J&K.
Jaiswal too had a poor Test season, scoring two half-centuries and a century in Australia after four fifties at home, but he still only managed low scores of 4 and 26.
However, this Ranji season, Iyer has been Mumbai's highest scorer. He averaged 68.57 and scored 480 runs from seven innings, including two hundreds. Additionally, he recently scored two undefeated hundreds in the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy. Additionally, he scored 345 runs at 188.52 in the 20-over Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, which he won.
Shivam Dube, an all-rounder who joined the India T20I team just after Mumbai's match against J&K concluded, would also not be playing for Mumbai.
All-rounders Atharva Ankolekar and Suryansh Shedge, who won Player of the Match in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final, as well as batter Angkrish Raghuvanshi are back in the squad for the last league match against Meghalaya. Mumbai is probably going to rely on the youthful opening duo of 17-year-old Ayush Mhatre and Raghuvanshi, who has already started his first domestic season with an impressive record of four hundreds and two half-centuries in 18 innings across first-class and List A formats.
Mumbai, the reigning champions, are in a difficult position to get to the Ranji knockout stages as they are ranked third in Group A, behind J&K and Baroda. They must win their final match against Meghalaya.
Mumbai squad
Ajinkya Rahane (c), Ayush Mhatre, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Amogh Bhatkal, Siddhesh Lad, Akash Anand (wk), Hardik Tamore (wk), Suryansh Shedge, Shardul Thakur, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Mohit Avasthi, Sylvester D'Souza, Royston Dias, Shreyas Gurav and Atharva Ankolekar