Mumbai, Jan 9: India’s middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer will be playing for Mumbai in their upcoming Ranji Trophy match against Andhra Pradesh, to be played from January 12-15 at MCA Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy Ground, Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai.

Mumbai, the 41-time Ranji Trophy champions, had begun the 2023/24 season of the tournament with a thumping victory over Bihar in Patna by an innings and 51 runs at the Moin ul Haq Stadium in Patna and earned seven points from the win.

Iyer’s availability for the Ranji Trophy game against Andhra comes after he was not picked for India’s upcoming three-match T20I series against Afghanistan, starting from January 11 in Mohali. The right-handed batter had an unimpressive time in the Test series in South Africa, making scores of 31 and 6 in Centurion, followed by 0 and four not out in Cape Town.

Iyer last played a Ranji Trophy match for Mumbai in 2018 and the game against Andhra Pradesh at his hometown will give him necessary red-ball game time ahead of India’s five-match Test series against England, starting from January 25 in Hyderabad, for which the squad is expected to be selected in coming days.

The Ajinkya Rahane-led Mumbai will be without batter Sarfaraz Khan and pacer Tushar Deshpande, as the duo will be turning out for India ‘A’ team in the two-day practice match and first multi-day game against England Lions in Ahmedabad, starting from January 12.

Fast bowler Sylvester Dsouza and opener Amogh Bhatkal have been included in Mumbai squad, to be captained by Ajinkya Rahane, who missed the opening match against Bihar due to a stiff neck. Andhra Pradesh, on the other hand, come into the clash against Mumbai on the back of picking three points after taking first-innings lead against Bengal at Visakhapatnam.

Mumbai Ranji Trophy squad for match against Andhra Pradesh: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Shreyas Iyer, Jay Bista, Bhupen Lalwani, Amogh Bhatkal, Suved Parkar, Prasad Pawar (wk), Hardik Tamore (wk), Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Atharva Ankolekar, Mohit Awasthi, Dhaval Kulkarni, Roystan Dias and Sylvester Dsouza.

(IANS)

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