Shardul Thakur to lead Mumbais Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title defence

Shardul Thakur will lead a star-studded 17-member Mumbai squad — featuring India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav and allrounder Shivam Dube — for the league phase of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, beginning in Lucknow on November 26.

The five-member selection committee, chaired by Sanjay Patil, unanimously decided to continue with Shardul as captain, especially after it was clarified that Suryakumar would be available for the first four matches as Mumbai look to defend its men’s inter-state T20 title. Shardul is already leading Mumbai to the top of the Ranji Trophy league standings this season.

“It is best to maintain continuity, and Suryakumar’s presence will be motivating and extremely useful for Shardul and the rest of the team,” Patil told The Hindu on Friday after the Mumbai Cricket Association announced the squad.

Both Suryakumar and Dube will join India’s pre-series camp ahead of the three-match T20I series against South Africa in early December.

India Under-19 captain Ayush Mhatre is set to open alongside Ajinkya Rahane. The selectors have handed wicketkeeping duties to Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who impressed behind the stumps during the T20 Mumbai league in June and excelled in the Under-23 inter-state one-day competition.

“He kept reasonably well in T20 Mumbai and is in excellent form, so we felt it was the right time to give him full responsibility,” Patil said.

The squad also features experienced batters Sarfaraz Khan and Siddhesh Lad, but its core strength lies in a deep allrounders’ pool. Apart from Dube, the squad includes Tanush Kotian, Shams Mulani, Sairaj Patil, Musheer Khan, Suryansh Shedge and Atharva Ankolekar — providing enviable balance as they eye a smooth passage into the Super League.

Defending champion Mumbai has been drawn in Group A, alongside Railways (Nov. 26), Vidarbha (Nov. 28), Andhra (Nov. 30), Assam (Dec. 2), Kerala (Dec. 4), Chhattisgarh (Dec. 6) and Odisha (Dec. 8).

The squad: Shardul Thakur (Capt.), Ajinkya Rahane, Ayush Mhatre, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Siddhesh Lad, Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube, Sairaj Patil, Musheer Khan, Suryansh Shedge, Atharva Ankolekar, Tanush Kotian, Shams Mulani, Tushar Deshpande, Irfan Umair, Hardik Tamore (wk).