India’s 2026 T20 World Cup-winning captain Suryakumar Yadav was left out of the Mumbai team for the Ranji Trophy opener against Chandigarh, which will take place from October 11 at the Wankhede Stadium, despite making himself available for selection.
Mumbai Cricket Association’s (MCA) chief selector Rajesh Pawar named the Siddhesh Lad-led team, with the 36-year-old’s absence the striking point.
A report by the Press Trust of India (PTI) has claimed that Suryakumar was left out as he did not attend Mumbai’s pre-season camp and has not played red-ball cricket for a long time. The published information states that Mumbai’s red-ball players have been training for the last month, but the veteran batter did not join. Moreover, he skipped the entire 2025-26 season, and his last first-class match was in February 2025.
The same report also states that Suryakumar had remained unresponsive to the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) 10 days ago about whether he wanted to play the Ranji Trophy. The selectors did not want to drop a young player to accommodate Suryakumar, which they felt was ‘unfair.’
“At the end, it is a team game. He does not have any immediate red-ball experience, and everyone was unanimous in their decision on Suryakumar,” a source was quoted as saying by PTI.
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However, Suryakumar still has a chance to play for Mumbai this season in red-ball cricket. The report states that the star batter, who played one Test match in his career for India, will have to make a case for selection by playing club cricket tournaments of the MCA with the red ball, like the Police Shield or Purushottam Shield Tournament.
Suryakumar Yadav Set To Lead Mumbai In White-Ball Cricket
Suryakumar does not face any threats to his spot in white-ball cricket for the Syed Musthaq Ali and Vijay Hazare Trophy. In fact, he could lead the team this season as regular skipper Shreyas Iyer is unlikely to be available due to international duty.
Shreyas had replaced Suryakumar as India’s T20I captain and also took his spot at number four. The star batter is also the vice-captain of the Indian ODI team.