Mumbai: All-rounder Shardul Thakur will lead Mumbai in the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy (SMAT), which will begin from November 26. Mumbai will play their league stage matches of the domestic T20 tournament at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.As TOI had reported on November 20, Mumbai will enjoy the services of India’s T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav and all-rounder Shivam Dube in the league stage of the tournament, who are both a part of the 17-man squad picked by the Mumbai selectors on Friday.Interestingly, opener Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who has been captaining the Mumbai Under-23 team this season, has been named as one of the two wicketkeepers in the side.Shardul successfully captained Mumbai in the league stage of the Ranji Trophy this season, with the side securing outright wins in three out of five matches.Mumbai are the defending champions in the tournament, having won the SMAT title last season under Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy. Veteran batsman Ajiyakha Rahane, who had scored 469 runs in nine matches at 58.62, including five half-centuries and a strike rate of 164.56, in Mumbai’s triumphant campaign last season, is a part of the squad.Mumbai will take on Railways in their first match on November 26, followed by clashes against Vidarbha on November 28, Andhra on November 30, Assam on December 2, Kerala on December 4, Chhattisgarh on December 6, Odisha on December 8.Squad: Shardul Thakur (captain), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Ajinkya Rahane, Ayush Mhatre, Sarfaraz Khan, Siddhesh Lad, Musheer Khan, Tushar Deshpande, Atharva Ankolekar, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Suryansh Shedge, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Hardik Tamore (wk), Sairaj Patil, Irfan Umair.
