Ranji Trophy: Dhawal back for Mumbai, Lad injured

MUMBAI: Forty-one time Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai will be bolstered by the return of experienced seamer Dhawal Kulkarni, even as they'll miss the services of middle-order batsman Siddhesh Lad, whose back injury has flared up again, in their Ranji Trophy Group ' A ' match against Gujarat, which begins from November 21 at Hubli.
"We wanted to replace Lad with Armaan Jaffer, but since he's suffering from fever currently , we had to include Shubham Ranjane instead," Mumbai chief selector Milind Rege told TOI on Friday .Kulkarni had missed the last two games at Mysuru, against Railways and Uttar Pradesh respectively, due to fever.
After managing merely 86 runs in four games since he was recalled (six innings), opener Kaustabh Pawar has been dropped. Youngster Jay Bista, who was excluded after the first two games of the season, is now set to open the innings with Akhil Herwardkar. Left arm spinner Vijay Gohil has suffered a fracture on his bowling hand and will be out for a month. It means his replacement, Aditya Dhumal, and Vishal Dabholkar, both leftarm spinners, will continue.
Meanwhile, the defending champions reached Hubli after enduring a 12-hour bus journey from Mysuru.
With 25 points in their kitty in five games, in which they've recorded three outright wins, Mumbai are sitting on top of the table, and barring a hiccup, look set to qualify for the quarterfinals. They now have three games left, against Gujarat, Bengal and Punjab respectively.