Mumbai ring in six changes, include teenager Sarfaraz

MUMBAI: After their remarkable eight-wicket win over Uttar Pradesh in their previous Ranji Trophy game in Kanpur, Mumbai have made six changes to the side that will travel to Kolkata for the fourth league game against Bengal, which will be played between December 28-31. The selectors have chosen to back youngsters for this game and have included batsmen Siddhesh Lad, Akhil Herwadkar, Sufiyan Shaikh, Sarfaraz Khan and Shrideep Mangela. They have also brought back left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdullah in place of Vishal Dabholkar. The other players who have missed the cut are Kevin Almeida, Sushant Marathe, Praful Waghela, Bravish Shetty and Hiken Shah.The 40-time champs lie fourth in Group 'A' with 7 points and have drawn flak for their poor batting performances in the first three matches. In the game against Bengal, the spotlight shifts to two of the most experienced players in the line-up - Abhishek Nayar and wicketkeeper Abhishek Tare - who have failed to impress this season. While Tare has cobbled together only 28 runs in four innings at an average of seven, Nayar has scored 57 in five innings at 14.25. The all-rounder has not fared well on the bowling front too, taking only two wickets in 66 overs. At 17, Sarfaraz is the youngest member of the squad and the promising hard-hitting batsman could well be making his First Class debut. He has already played five List A games and scored 58 runs.Mumbai will also be lining up new openers in the 20-yearold Herwadkar, who featured in his only First Class match against Orissa way back in 2011.Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (Captain), Abhishek Nayar, Aditya Tare, Shrideep Mangela, Siddhesh Lad, Akhil Herwadkar, Shreyas Iyer, Sufiyan Shaikh, Sarfaraz Khan, Iqbal Abdullah, Akshay Girap, Shardul Thakur, Wilkin Mota, Badre Alam, Kshemal Waingankar.