Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018-19: Ajinkya Rahane appointed as skipper of Mumbai team

Indian batsman Ajinkya Rahane didn’t have the best of outings in India’s recently concluded five-match Test series against England. The right-hander scored a couple of half-centuries but ended with 257 runs from ten innings at a dismal average of 25.70. However, the 30-year-old has reasons to cherish for the fact that he has been appointed as Mumbai’s captain for the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy.

The Maharashtra-born cricketer has replaced Aditya Tare as the skipper. Shreyas Iyer, who has captained India ‘A’ in quite a few series’ has been named as the vice-captain of Mumbai. The team also has the likes of 18-year-old Prithvi Shaw, who got his maiden international call-up in the Test series on English soil, albeit the teenager didn’t get to play a match.

Dhaval Kulkarni is another of the players, who have represented India at the highest level, in the squad. Suryakumar Yadav was exceptional for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL and he is expected to be a vital cog in the domestic team’s setup. The 2018-19 edition of the tournament gets underway on September 19. Mumbai’s opening match is against Baroda at KSCA Stadium in Alur on the same day.

The challenge ahead for Rahane

Rahane and Co will thereafter play Karnataka, Railways, Vidarbha, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Goa and Maharashtra in their subsequent encounters. Last time around, they won four matches out of six and qualified for the next round. Unfortunately, they lost to Maharashtra in the quarterfinal at Palam A Stadium in Alur and bowed out of the tournament.

In the meantime, Rahane will be keen to put up impressive performances in the 50-over event and somehow stake his claim back in the Indian limited-overs team, especially with the Cricket World Cup next year in England and Wales not even a year away.

Here is the full squad

Ajinkya Rahane (Captain), Shreyas Iyer (Vice Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Jay Bista, Surya Kumar Yadav, Siddhesh Lad, Aditya Tare, Eknath Kerkar, Shivam Dube, Akash Parkar, Dhaval Kulkarni, Shams Mulani, Vijay Gohil, Tushar Deshpande, Royston Dias.

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