Suryakumar to lead Mumbai; Zaheer still unfit

Zaheer Khan has not been considered for Mumbai's Ranji Trophy opener against Jammu & Kashmir, to be played at the Wankhede stadium from December 7.

It is understood that Zaheer is yet to report to the Mumbai Cricket Association physiotherapist and have a fitness test. Zaheer had resumed bowling in the nets, but is believed to be far from ready for competitive cricket. Zaheer has been out of action for more than six months after suffering a tendon injury on his bowling arm during IPL 2014.

The Mumbai selectors have, meanwhile, appointed a young captain in Suryakumar Yadav, who will become the team's fourth captain in 10 games. Last year, Abhishek Nayar, Rohit Sharma and Zaheer had led Mumbai during their Ranji campaign that ended with a quarter-final loss against Maharashtra. The selectors had approached veteran batsman Wasim Jaffer to take over the reins, but Jaffer declined and preferred to help groom a young captain.

With Zaheer unfit, and Rohit and Ajinkya Rahane away on India duty, the selectors then had to choose between Suryakumar and Nayar for the captaincy. With Nayar having received flak for his lackluster captaincy against Jharkhand last year, the selectors handed over the charge to Suryakumar, who has previously led Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Mumbai squad: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Nayar (vice-capt), Wasim Jaffer, Dhawal Kulkarni, Aditya Tare, Bravish Shetty, Kaustubh Pawar, Shreyas Iyer, Iqbal Abdulla, Vishal Dabholkar, Shardul Thakur, Javed Khan, Badre Alam, Kevin Almeida, Akshay Girap.