Ajinkya Rahane to lead Mumbai in Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy

Ajinkya Rahane was on Thursday named by the selection committee, led by ex-India pacer Salil Ankola, as the Mumbai captain for the league stage of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy at Rajkot, which will kick off on October 11. With Covid-19 threat now almost over, the selectors picked the usual 15-man squad for the tournament. Rahane had earlier this week led West Zone to the Duleep Trophy title.

While the former India Test captain missed the knockouts due to a hamstring injury, Mumbai had reached the final of the Ranji Trophy under Prithvi Shaw’s captaincy last season. “Ajinkya led West Zone superbly in the Duleep Trophy recently. Let’s not forget that he’s played 82 Tests and been an India captain.

Prithvi and the other youngsters will learn a lot from him. You need a mature guy to handle them. He was away most of the time last season, but this time, he’s available throughout the season, which is a boon for us,” Ankola told TOI.

A big boost for Mumbai is that India’s pace bowling allrounder Shardul Thakur is available for this tournament, even though he’s set to be picked for India’s ODI side against South Africa. The India-SA series will end on October 11, the day Mumbai launch their campaign, against Mizoram. Mumbai are placed in Group A with Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Railways, Uttarakhand, Vidarbha and Mizoram.