Left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh switches to Vidarbha

Left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh has chosen to switch allegiances from Mumbai to Vidarbha in first-class cricket. The bowler, who was a part of the Under-19 World Cup-winning squad, is believed to have taken the decision after being ignored by Mumbai's selectors. The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) issued a no-objection certificate (NOC) last week, to allow Harmeet to switch over.

MCA provided differing reasons on Harmeet's switch. "Last year too, his father had approached me to let his son play for another domestic side (Haryana)," MCA joint secretary PV Shetty told Times of India. "I was able to convince him that we would give him opportunities here. This time they insisted again, and we relented because we have the boy's future in mind. If he gets an opportunity to play somewhere else, it will be good for his career."

MCA's joint secretary Nitin Dalal said the presence of other left-arm spinners made picking Harmeet difficult. "With so many left-arm spinners around (Iqbal Abdulla, Ankit Chavan and Vishal Dabholkar), he was not getting an opportunity to play for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy," Dalal said. "He also suffered from an injury last year and couldn't play much. His father, too, is shifting to Nagpur so we had to give him the green signal."

Harmeet Singh made his Ranji trophy debut for Mumbai in 2009, where he took seven wickets against Himachal Pradesh. In five-first class games, Harmeet has taken 25 wickets. He also led the Mumbai U-19 team to the Cooch Behar Trophy in the 2011-12 season. The bowler was part of the India U-19 squad and picked 6 wickets in four games at an economy rate of 3.02 during the Under-19 World Cup last year.