MI back to four foreigners in team as Yadav returns

The Champions League Twenty20 withdrew the concession given to Mumbai Indians to field five foreign players instead of four in each game following the return of all-rounder Suryakumar Yadav to their squad.

New Delhi: The Champions League Twenty20 on Friday withdrew the concession given to Mumbai Indians to field five foreign players instead of four in each game following the return of all-rounder Suryakumar Yadav to their squad.

Yadav was allowed to return to the MI squad ahead of the team`s semifinal against Somerset on Saturday after having originally been withdrawn due to injury. "Yadav had originally been replaced in the squad due to injury, however given he has recovered and Mumbai has a shortage of Indian players in their squad he is now permitted to return to the group," a release from the league stated. The 22-year-old batter from Mumbai was originally one of the eight Indian players reported injured by the franchise, leaving them with just seven Indian players in their squad. Yadav, however, scored a massive 191 for Chandrakant Pandit XI against Dlip Vengsarkar XI on September 29 in an under-22 tournament to announce his availability for MI. Out of 23 contracted players, eight cricketers including the likes of skipper Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma were declared unfit by MI ahead of the tournament. The situation meant the final 14-member squad had an equal number of Indian and overseas players, without a buffer to handle any potential injury to an Indian player. The organisers were thus forced to allow the side to field five overseas cricketers in their playing XI, though other IPL teams continued to play with four. But with Yadav making a return to the team, Mumbai Indians now have six foreign players and eight Indians, this after MI had yet another injury in the form of South African wicketkeeper-batsman Davy Jacobs, who was ruled out of the tournament after damaging his hip. PTI