Vijay Hazare Trophy: Mumbai to miss Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma for first two games

Mumbai: Mumbai, who topped Group B Ranji Trophy league without the services of India stars Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma for the major portion, would be without the duo once again for the first two Group A games of the Hazare Trophy One-Day tournament to be held in Hyderabad from December 10-18.

The Mumbai squad, announced here today, is to be led by Ranji captain and wicketkeeper Aditya Tare.

It includes senior player Abhishek Nayar who has recovered from the palm injury that forced him to miss the last few Ranji games, according to Mumbai Cricket Association's joint secretary, Dr Unmesh Khanvilkar.

Asked the reason for the duo of Rahane and Rohit being left out of the squad, Khanvilkar said as per his information they were not available to play in the first two games though the fourth and final Test against South Africa was set to end today in Delhi.

"They are not available for the first two games and this team has been selected for the first two games," said Khanvilkar while adding, "Rohit is also getting married (when the first two games are to be held)".

Mumbai will take on Punjab in their group opener on December 10 and then are slated to play against Tamil Nadu (Dec 11), Assam (Dec 13), Services (Dec 15), Team Rajasthan (Dec 17) and Hyderabad (Dec 18).

The Mumbai squad: Aditya Tare (Captain), Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Iqbal Abdullah, Shardul Thakur, Siddhesh Lad, Abhishek Nayar, Abhishek Raut, Jay Bista, Akhil Herwadkar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Sufiyan Shaikh, Shashank Singh, Sagar Trivedi and Rohan Raje.