Rest of India won the crucial toss and elected to bowl first in the Irani Cup 2024 clash against Mumbai in Lucknow on Tuesday. Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad made some bold decisions to leave out the star Indian pacer from the playing XI.
Both wicketkeeper batter Dhruv Jurel and Ishan Kishan made the playing eleven for the Rest of India but there was no place for the fast bowler Khaleel Ahmed. The left-arm pacer was surprisingly dropped from India's squad for the upcoming T20I series against Bangladesh to feature in the Irani Cup supposedly but failed to find a place in the starting eleven for Rest of India.
Khaleel, 26, was part of India A squad in the recent Duleep Trophy tournament where he picked nine wickets in two matches to play a crucial role in his team's road to glory. Khaleel recently made the return to India's T20I setup after a string of impressive performances in the IPL and domestic tournaments.
Meanwhile, Dhruv Jurel was able to find a place in the Rest of India's playing eleven after being released from India's Test squad for the Bangladesh series. The young star also donned the wicketkeeping gloves ahead of Ishan Kishan with the latter playing as a batting specialist.
In-form experienced batter Abhimanyu Easwaran also made the team with Sai Sudharsan and Devdutt Padikkal but Shashwat Rawat and Ricky Bhui were left out for the Rest of India. In the bowling department, Yassh Dayal, Mukesh Kumar and Prasidh Krishna formed the pace attack with Manav Suthar and Saransh Jain being picked as spin options.
Rest of India Playing XI: Ruturaj Gaikwad (C), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Ishan Kishan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Manav Suthar, Saransh Jain, Yash Dayal, Mukesh Kumar, Prasidh Krishna.
Mumbai Playing XI: Prithvi Shaw, Ayush Mhatre, Hardik Tamore (WK), Ajinkya Rahane (C), Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan, Shardul Thakur, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Mohammad Juned Khan, Mohit Avasthi.
