
Mumbai's chief selector Sanjay Patil has emphasised that India internationals selected for the Ranji Trophy must give their full effort and not just show up to play.
Mumbai have picked Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube for the Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Haryana, beginning on February 8. Mumbai, who managed to sneak through into the quarters following a bonus point win against Meghalaya, also needed Baroda to drop points against Jammu and Kashmir in their last league game. Baroda ended up losing the match, resulting in Mumbai’s second-spot finish in the group.
The equation had become complicated for Mumbai after they lost to Jammu and Kashmir in the sixth round, despite the presence of as many as six internationals in the playing XI. Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal made Ranji comebacks, the former playing his first four-day game for the side in nearly a decade. It came after the BCCI mandated the top stars to play domestic cricket, following which Rohit, and later Virat Kohli, turned out to play for their respective state teams.
However, neither Rohit nor Jaiswal, both of whom opened the innings, were able to contribute much against Jammu and Kashmir. The India skipper made 3 and 28, with the left-hander scoring 4 and 26. Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Shardul Thakur and Ajinkya Rahane were in the XI as well, although they play for Mumbai more regularly. Rahane is also Mumbai’s captain, with the in-form Thakur playing a pivotal role in the season as well.
To accommodate Rohit and Jaiswal, Mumbai also had to drop Ayush Mhatre from his opening role. Mhatre has scored 413 runs in the ongoing tournament at an average of 41.30 with two hundreds and a fifty, but found no place in the XI as the internationals returned.