India's former captain Rohit Sharma, T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav, opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and all-rounder Shivam Dube have not been included in MCA Mumbai's squad for the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy. However, this does not mean that they will not play in this one-day tournament. The tournament will begin on December 24. India's all-rounder, Shardul Thakur, will captain the team.
Mumbai's senior selection committee chairman Sanjay Patil said, 'Whenever these Indian players are free, they will get a place in the Mumbai team. If they are not available, then it is not right to keep their names in the team, as this will spoil the opportunity for some young player.' Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar, who is currently MCA's men's cricket advisor, was also present at the selection meeting.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, India's Test and ODI opener, was hospitalized in Pune after suffering from severe gastroenteritis following the last match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy against Rajasthan. Sanjay Patil said, 'Yashasvi will be taken into the Mumbai team as soon as he gets clearance from the doctors.'
India will play their next international series against New Zealand, which will begin on January 11, 2026. The first match is in Baroda. Recently, the BCCI has made it mandatory that Indian players must play in the Vijay Hazare Trophy unless they are injured or undergoing rehabilitation at the Centre of Excellence.
Meanwhile, it has been learned that former India and Mumbai captain Ajinkya Rahane has sought rest for the first few matches of the league phase due to hamstring problems. Patil said, 'He will rest and recover and join the team after the first one or two matches.'
The group phase will run from December 24 this year to January 8, 2026. Mumbai has been placed in Elite Group 'C', which includes Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Himachal, Maharashtra, Punjab and Goa. The matches will be held in Jaipur.
The selectors have included opener Ishan Mulchandani in the team for the first time. Young batter Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who scored only 49 runs in four matches in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, has fortunately not been dropped. Domestic batter Sarfaraz Khan, who is in excellent form and scored 329 runs in seven matches at an average of 65.80 and a strike rate of 203.80, with three half-centuries and one century, is also in the team. His younger brother, all-rounder Musheer Khan, has also found a place in the team.
Although Mumbai could not retain the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title and was knocked out of the Super League phase, Patil is satisfied with the team's performance. He said, 'We won 8 out of 10 matches, which means we played good cricket. Everyone played well, especially Sarfaraz Khan. We were only affected due to the net run rate rule.' Mumbai was eliminated despite winning two out of three matches in the Super League due to a lower net run rate. This is because, according to the tournament rules, the net run rate is calculated afresh in the Super League. And if multiple teams are tied on points after three matches, the decision is made based on net run rate rather than head-to-head results.
