Ruturaj Gaikwad has been appointed with the duties of leading the Rest of India squad for their Irani Cup game against the Ranji Trophy Champions, Mumbai. The Irani Cup game between Mumbai and the Rest of India will be played in Lucknow from October 1 to 5. Ishan Kishan, the keeper- batter has also managed to find a place in the Rest of India side, which is a huge positive for him in his efforts to make a return to the National side.
Kishan made his return to Domestic cricket with the Buchi Babu Trophy, leading Jharkhand in the red-ball tournament organized by TNCA. He made his return to the bigger stage, featuring in the 2nd and 3rd round games of the Duleep Trophy. He announced his arrival in style with a century on his return, playing for the India C side.
Kishan is one of the team’s two wicketkeepers, and Dhruv Jurel was also chosen, assuming he is not selected by India for the upcoming second Test match between them and Bangladesh, which is scheduled to take place in Kanpur from September 27 to October 1.
A similar disclaimer has been applied to the selection of middle-order batsman Sarfaraz Khan and left-arm quick Yash Dayal, who are both members of the Indian side and are selected in the Mumbai and ROI teams.
Up to four frontline openers are included in the Rest of India squad: skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad; Abhimanyu Easwaran, who finished as the second-highest run-scorer in the just concluded Duleep Trophy; Devdutt Padikkal; and B Sai Sudharsan. Lately, Padikkal and Sai Sudharsan have seized the chance to work in the middle order. In his Test debut against England earlier this year in Dharamsala, Padikkal batted at No. 4.
Ricky Bhui of Andhra and Shashwat Rawat of Baroda have been recognized for their Duleep Trophy performances. With two hundred and a half-century, Bhui top-scored with 359 runs at an average of 71.80, while Rawat is coming off of scores of 124 and 53 in his most recent India A match.
With Prasidh Krishna, who recently returned from a quadriceps injury in the Duleep Trophy, Mukesh Kumar, and two left-arm quicks in Dayal and Khaleel Ahmed, ROI has assembled a potent pace attack. The spinners are Rahul Chahar, Saransh Jain, and Manav Suthar.
Ajinkya Rahane will captain a fully fit Mumbai team that also includes Sarfaraz, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer, and Shardul Thakur. Rahane is returning from a consistent schedule of playing County Championship red-ball cricket for Leicestershire. The Indian all-rounder Shardul Thakur has also made a comeback; he is fit again after having foot surgery in June.
Thakur hasn’t played professional cricket since the IPL 2024. He sustained the injury on India’s trip to South Africa towards the end of last year. He is scheduled to embark on a tour of Australia and is expecting to return to contention. Before going back to play for Mumbai in the Ranji knockout stages, he last appeared for India in the first Test match of the South Africa series in Centurion.
Squads for the Irani Cup:
Rest of India: Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), Abhimanyu Easwaran (vice-captain), B Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Manav Suthar, Saransh Jain, Prasidh Krishna, Mukesh Kumar, Yash Dayal, Ricky Bhui, Shashwat Rawat, Khaleel Ahmed, Rahul Chahar.
Mumbai: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Prithvi Shaw, Ayush Mhatre, Musheer Khan, Sarfaraz Khan*, Shreyas Iyer, Siddhesh Lad, Suryansh Shedge, Hardik Tamore (wk), Sidhaant Addhatrao (wk), Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Himanshu Singh, Shardul Thakur, Mohit Avasthi, Mohammad Juned Khan, Royston Dias.
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