Leg spinner Pravin Tambe was on Monday surprisingly included in the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team to take on Jharkhand in the four-day Group A match starting at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on December 6.
Mumbai will be without injured pace bowler Dhawal Kulkarni for their Ranji Trophy semi-final against Madhya Pradesh, starting February 13, at Cuttack.
Dabholkar, who has taken as many as 27 wickets in six games so far, and off-spinner Ankush Jaiswal - in his Ranji debut against Madhya Pradesh in Indore, were reported by the umpires to have flexed their elbows beyond the 15-degree permissible limit in the game and cannot play till their rectified action is cleared by the board.
Mumbai's bid to clinch their 41st Ranji Trophy crown, and the first after two seasons, got a significant boost with the availability of fit-again pacer Dhawal Kulkarni for the final against Saurashtra in Pune. Kulkarni missed the semi-final against Madhya Pradesh at Cuttack, after picking up an injury during their quarter-final victory over Jharkhand at Mysuru. Other than his inclusion, the Mumbai selectors have retained the squad that secured their place for their 45th title clash in Cuttack. Significantly, when Mumbai clinched their 40th crown, Saurashtra were their opponents in the 2012-13 season. The five-day final will begin on February 24.
Rohit Sharma has been included in Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai's 15-member squad for the warm-up game against the visiting New Zealand side at New Delhi from September 16-18.
After a cracking century, left-handed opener Akhil Herwadkar spun web around Jharkhand batsmen with his off-breaks as heavyweights Mumbai took a step closer towards qualifying for the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy on Thursday. Mumbai ended their first innings on 416 with domestic stalwart Abhishek Nayar scoring 74 off 167 balls with seven boundaries and a six. With useful contributions from wicketkeeper-batsman Sufiyan Shaikh (23) and spinner Iqbal Abdullah (33), Mumbai got more than 100 runs from the last four partnerships. In reply, Jharkhand were reeling at 150 for eight with another 57 runs required to save the follow-on.
A young but mighty Mumbai have history and form firmly on their side when they chase their 41st Ranji Trophy title by locking horns with Saurashtra, who are taking a rare shot at domestic cricket's biggest prize, in the summit showdown beginning in Pune from Wednesday. While Mumbai will be appearing in their 45th final of the top domestic tournament, it is only the second time that Saurashtra are in the title clash. Incidentally, it was Mumbai who put paid to Saurashtra's hopes of a maiden triumph by wrapping the final in three days in 2012-13. That was the only time Saurashtra came close to the title. Mumbai won that match by an innings and 125 runs for their 40th trophy. Three seasons later, the scene remains more or less the same and it will take a huge effort from Saurashtra to upset a side which has almost won more titles than the rest of India combined. For the record, since 1990-91, Mumbai haven't lost any of the 10 finals they have played. Mumbai have at least five of those who played in the earlier final in the squad -- Aditya Tare, Abhishek Nayar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Shardul Thakur and Vishal Dabholkar.
Veteran batsman Wasim Jaffer will lead Mumbai in their four-day Ranji Trophy Group A match against Orissa, at the Wankhede stadium, from December 14, as Abhishek Nayar is injured.
The right-arm medium pacer caused Maharashtra's batsmen a lot of problems with his extra bounce on a green Wankhede wicket, taking four wickets for 62 runs as Maharashtra struggled to 219 for 7 in 57 overs in their first innings, at stumps on the second day, in reply to Mumbai's 402 all out.
Joginder Sharma stole the limelight with five-wicket haul while Sunny Singh led a spirited batting effort as Haryana staged a remarkable fightback to leave their Ranji Trophy opener against defending champions Mumbai evenly poised, in Lahli, Haryana, on Monday.
In an interesting move, the Mumbai selection committee decided to include 14-year-old Armaan Jaffer in the Ranji Trophy probables list along with his uncle and state team stalwart Wasim Jaffer.
Abhishek Nayar once again proved his value for the Mumbai Ranji team as his gutsy 91 enabled the defending champions set Gujarat a stiff target of 312 in the final of the Ranji Trophy in Indore on Friday.
It was not an ideal preparation, but New Zealand made good use of their time in the middle against a mediocre Mumbai attack on Day 1 of their only warm-up match ahead of the three-Test series against India.
Back-up opener Luke Ronchi made his case for selection in the first Test with a cracking century as New Zealand's only warm-up match of the India tour ended in a draw against Mumbai at the Feroze Shah Kotla in New Delhi on Sunday. Ronchi's racy 107-run knock was the highlight of the New Zealand second innings which ended at 235 all out in 66.4 overs on the third and final day, providing the visiting side more batting practice ahead of the first Test beginning in Kanpur on September 22.
The domestic season-ending five-day Irani Cup game between newly crowned Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai and the Rest of India, commencing in Mumbai from Sunday, will provide fringe players a good opportunity to stake claims for the national team. The first class match is the last occasion for hopefuls from both ranks to impress the five-member national selection panel headed by Sandeep Patil before attention shifts totally to the T20 format, commencing with the ICC World T20 Championships. With the country expected to play over 15 Test matches post Indian Premier League till the end of next season, this match is the ideal platform for these players to strengthen their claims for the long Test haul. Mumbai, who clinched the Ranji crown for the 41st time last week by defeating Saurashtra by an innings, have a settled combination led by wicket keeper batsman Aditya Tare. They appear to be better prepared than the motley bunch of Rest of India, being led by Madhya Pradesh stumper Naman Ojha. However, they would take the Rest of India lightly at their own peril as the latter have a good bowling attack at their command even without originally named Barinder Sran and Nathu Singh who have been injured and replaced by Ankit Rajpoot and Anureet Singh, according to their coach Ashish Kapoor.
Kedar Jadhav's sizzling century and a cracking innings of 91 from young Vijay Zol helped Maharashtra stun defending champions Mumbai by eight wickets, to storm into the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy, in Mumbai on Saturday.
Maharashtra needs 224 runs to make it to the semi-finals after Anupam Sanklecha leads a fightback, claiming four Mumbai wickets for 57 runs. Harish Kotian reports
The most successful team in the history of Ranji Trophy, Mumbai, did it again! With splendid performance by their players, Mumbai managed to secure quarter-finals berth.
Ranji Trophy giants, Mumbai, pulled off a thrilling one-wicket win over Tamil Nadu despite visiting skipper Dinesh Karthik's brilliant 167 in the first innings of the Group 'B' league encounter, in Mumbai, on Sunday.
A round-up of the second day's play of the Ranji Trophy matches across the country.
A summary of the second day's play in the Ranji Trophy matches played at various venues across the country.
A round-up of Ranji Trophy matches played across India on Monday
Left-arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar shone with a four-wicket haul as Mumbai demolished Punjab by 180 runs to register their second successive win in the Ranji Trophy in Chandigarh.
A summary of the Ranji Trophy matches being played in different parts of the country.
A summary of Ranji Trophy matches played on the fourth and final day on Tuesday.
It was another Ranji Trophy match at Bansi Lal Stadium that turned out to be farcical contest as Baroda beat Bengal by 21 runs with 40 wickets falling well inside two days.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Friday
A summary of Tuesday's play in the Ranji Trophy matches at various venues across the country.
A summary of the third day's play in the Ranji Trophy matches played at various venues across the country.
A round-up of Ranji Trophy matches played across India on Monday
A summary of Monday's play in the Ranji Trophy matches at various venues across the country.
A summary of Tuesday's play in the Ranji Trophy matches at various venues across the country.
A summary of Monday's play in the Ranji Trophy matches at various venues across the country.
A summary of the opening day's play in the Ranji Trophy matches, at various venues over the country.
A summary of the opening day's play from the Ranji Trophy matches at various venues across the country.
Natraj Behera scored his second century of the match as Odisha rallied to earn a draw after being forced to follow on against Mumbai, on the fourth and final day of their Group A Ranji Trophy match, in Mumbai.
A summary of the Ranji Trophy Group A and Group B matches played across India on Sunday.
A summary of the day's play in the Ranji Trophy matches at different venues around the country.
A summary of the Ranji matches played across India on Sunday.
Round-up of the Ranji Trophy matches being played in different parts of the country.