MUMBAI: In a big boost to the defending champions, India’s T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav and allrounder Shivam Dube will turn out for Mumbai in the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy, which will begin from Nov 26. Mumbai, who won the title last year under Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy, will play their league stage matches of the domestic T20 tournament at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.“I just spoke to Surya. He has confirmed his availability for Mumbai for SMAT. Dube played in practice matches organised by the Mumbai Cricket Association on Tuesday and Wednesday. He too will be available for the tournament,” Mumbai chief selector Sanjay Patil told TOI on Thursday. The Mumbai selectors will meet on Friday to pick the squad for the tournament. It’s not yet clear as yet if SKY will lead the team or India allrounder Shardul Thakur, who successfully captained Mumbai in the league stage of the Ranji Trophy this season, with the side scoring outright wins in three out of five matches.With a busy T20I season for India ahead, starting with the five-match T20I series against South Africa, which will begin from Dec 9 in Cuttack, and culminating in the T20 World Cup in Feb-March in India and Sri Lanka, Suryakumar will desperately look to recover his prolonged run of poor form for the last year or so.The 35-year-old managed to score just 72 runs in seven matches@18.00 in the T20 Asia Cup in Sept in UAE. Following that, during the five-match T20I series against Australia Down Under in Oct-Nov, the veteran batsman scored 84 runs@28.00, at a strike rate of 171.42, and a highest score of 39 not out. Dube scored 26 runs in five matches@13.00 in the series, though he got to bat only twice. A much improved medium-pacer now, he took three wickets@21.00. In the Asia Cup final against Pakistan, the allrounder smashed a superb 33 off 22 balls in the final Mumbai will take on Railways in their first match on Nov 26, followed by clashes against Vidarbha on Nov 28, Andhra on Nov 30, Assam on Dec 2, Kerala on Dec 4, Chhattisgarh on Dec 6, Odisha on Dec 8.This is the first time that SKY and Dube will turn out for Mumbai this season-the duo missed the first leg of the Ranji Trophy as they were busy with international commitments. Dube had reached Srinagar for Mumbai’s opening Ranji Trophy match against Jammu & Kashmir at Srinagar, but had to pull out due to an injury. India’s chief selector Ajit Agarkar has made it clear that international players need to play in domestic cricket when they are fit and not on international duty.
