With ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah looking doubtful for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in February-March too, pace bowling allrounder Shardul Thakur would be itching to make his claim for an India berth when he turns out for Mumbai against Assam in their Elite Group B Ranji Trophy match at the Amingaon Cricket Ground in Guwahati from Tuesday.
Thakur was snubbed by India's team management for both Tests in Bangladesh, but a fine show in the couple of Ranji matches that he will play for Mumbai this season will help him impress the new selection committee. With Jaydev Unadkat in red-hot form , he would hope to bring in his vast first-class experience (237 wickets in 72 games@28.14 & 1541 runs@16.39) to produce something special at a critical time for his career and Mumbai too.
An inspiring show by Thakur will help Mumbai deal with the sudden loss of dashing opener Yashasvi Jaiswal due to a stomach illness, as they look to score a much-needed outright win which will boost their chances of making it to the knockouts. With 16 points after four games, Mumbai are placed second below table-toppers Saurashtra (19).
Only two teams go through from each group. Mumba i have just three games left, and they would ideally want to score outright wins in two of them to guarantee a knockout berth.
After this match, they play Delhi (from Jan 17) in an away game, and then Maharashtra (from Jan 24) at Brabourne Stadium in an away game. Assam, meanwhile, have 11 points after four games.
