Prithvi Shaw set to return from injury in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy
Ajinkya Rahane will be leading Mumbai while wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha is likely to be named in the Bengal squad
ESPNcricinfo staff
17-Feb-2019
Prithvi Shaw had a knock on the second morning • AFP
The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, India's domestic T20 competition, begins on February 21 and will see plenty of its best players in action. Not least among them Prithvi Shaw, who is set to mark his return from an ankle injury he sustained in December. The young Mumbai opener struck a century on Test debut in 2018 and impressed India captain Virat Kohli enough that he said "I don't think any of us were even 10 percent of what he is at 18-19."
Another man on the comeback trail is wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha. Bengal have not announced their squad yet but it is likely he will be part of it, having recently begun training again after a long time battling shoulder issues.
Back in the nets with Bengal! @CabCricket pic.twitter.com/knWpWn8n6G
— Wriddhiman Saha (@Wriddhipops) February 17, 2019
Ajinkya Rahane will be leading Mumbai, and considering he wasn't picked in the Indian side to play the Australia ODIs next month, might be keen to use the opportunity to change the selectors' mind before the final squad for the World Cup is announced in April. Shreyas Iyer and Shardul Thakur will also be part of Mumbai's campaign which begins with a match against Sikkim on Thursday.
Test specialist Ishant Sharma will also return to action after his excellent performances to help India win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy earlier this year. He has not played competitive cricket since early January but will be leading the defending T20 champions Delhi when they begin their tournament with a match against Jharkhand on Thursday.
Karnataka have some heavyweights in their side as well with Mayank Agarwal, brimming from the confidence of a successful start to his India career, leading their batting line-up. Manish Pandey remains captain and Karun Nair his deputy. They play Assam on Thursday.
Tamil Nadu, too, host a variety of stars, with R Ashwin, India's premier Test spinner, leading them and Vijay Shankar, the allrounder who made a name for himself in New Zealand, lending batting firepower. They face Rajasthan in their season opener on Thursday.