Thakur to lead Mumbai, Sarfaraz, Rahane included in squad for Ranji Trophy opener against J&K

Mumbai, Oct 10 (PTI) India all-rounder Shardul Thakur was on Friday appointed Mumbai captain while Sarfaraz Khan and Ajinkya Rahane also were included in their 16-member squad for their Ranji Trophy 2025-26 season opener against Jammu and Kashmir.

Thakur succeeds Rahane as Mumbai skipper after the former left his role ahead of the new season.

The 42-time champions Mumbai will take on Jammu and Kashmir in their first match of the Ranji season at Srinagar's Sher-I-Kashmir Stadium from October 15-18.

Mumbai, who had lost their last match to J&K in the previous season by five wickets here, are placed in Elite Group D along with Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Hyderabad, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Pondicherry.

The squad includes India batter Sarfaraz who has been out of national reckoning from the Test side, as well as all-rounder Shivam Dube, who mostly features in T20Is for the national team.

Musheer Khan, who had missed majority of the last domestic season 2024-25 after a car accident, finds his place back in the 16-member squad.

Mumbai and Chennai Super Kings opener opener Ayush Mhatre, who has also captained India U-19 teams during their recent tours of England and Australia, has been named in the Mumbai squad.

The squad, however, is without Shreyas Iyer who has taken a break from red-ball cricket due back-related issues, and Prithvi Shaw, who has moved to Maharashtra after losing his spot during the last season.

The squad also does not feature Suryakumar Yadav, who had featured in last season's Ranji Trophy semifinal against Vidarbha, which Mumbai had lost to the eventual champions by 80 runs.

Squad: Shardul Thakur (c), Ayush Mhatre, Akash Anand (wk), Hardik Tamore (wk), Siddhesh Lad, Ajinkya Rahane, Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Tushar Deshpande, Sylvester D’Souza, Irfan Umair, Musheer Khan, Akhil Herwadkar, Royston Dias. PTI DDV AH AH