Why was Suryakumar Yadav not picked in Mumbai's Ranji Trophy squad?

Suryakumar Yadav's persistent absence from the pre-season camp was the reason behind his exclusion from Mumbai's Ranji Trophy team, a Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) source told PTI on Tuesday.

India's former T20 International captain, who is now back to the domestic cricket grind after losing his place in the national side, entirely skipped the pre-season training routines ahead of the squad announcement. He had made himself available nonetheless.

Mumbai's red-ball players have been training for the last month, with their practice continuing on Tuesday as well, at the Cricket Club of India and the Mumbai Cricket Association's BKC Ground here.

"At the end, it is a team game. He does not have any immediate red-ball experience and everyone was unanimous in their decision on Suryakumar," the source said, adding that the selectors, otherwise, would have had to exclude a young player which "did not seem fair."

PTI understands that Suryakumar was also non-responsive about 10 days ago when he was approached for Mumbai squad selection and made himself available at a later stage.

However, lack of red-ball experience and not attending the pre-season camp of the 42-times Ranji Trophy winners led to Suryakumar not being named in Mumbai's 16-member side to face Chandigarh in their season-opener from October 11-14 here at the Wankhede Stadium.

The doors to Mumbai selection are not completely shut for Suryakumar, who was last seen in action during the T20 Mumbai League right after the IPL. He will be required to play club cricket organised by the MCA such as the Police Shield or the Purushottam Shield Tournament in order to get back in contention.

However, status quo remains as far as Suryakumar's white-ball candidacy is concerned. The 36-year-old has been conveyed by the Mumbai selectors that he will be considered for domestic tournaments coming up in the 2026-27 season.

Suryakumar, who led India to their third T20 World Cup title earlier this year, is in line to lead Mumbai but only if Shreyas Iyer, his successor in the national side, is not available.

Meanwhile, former Mumbai skipper and India all-rounder Shardul Thakur is sidelined for at least a month and will miss a few Ranji Trophy matches after sustaining an injury to his hand during training.

With Siddhesh Lad set to lead Mumbai this season, the squad for their Ranji Trophy opener will have India batters Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sarfaraz Khan, as well as regular players in Shams Mulani, and Tushar Deshpande who were a part of India A's 1-0 win in the unofficial Test series against Australia A recently.- Ends