Focus on Suryakumar, Shreyas and Sarfaraz in Buchi Babu meet

Coimbatore: India dasher Suryakumar Yadav will turn up for Mumbai in their Buchi Babu contest against TNCA XI, beginning here on Tuesday, with an aim to get his Test career back on track.

Shreyas Iyer, also part of Mumbai’s squad, too will be looking to make a statement in the pre-season event, having last played a Test in February.

The star-studded Mumbai side will be captained by Sarfaraz Khan, who too will be jostling find space in a full strength Test squad when the home season begins next month despite a promising beginning against England earlier this year.

The likes of Virat Kohli, K L Rahul and Rishabh Pant, who were not available for different reasons over course of the five games against England, are expected to be available for the two Test series against Bangladesh beginning September 19 in Chennai.

The centre of attention in the round three of the Buchi Babu match undoubtedly will be Suryakumar, who recently led India to victory in his first series as T20 skipper. Not in the team’s ODI plans for the moment, the 33-year-old remains determined to play in all three formats. His sole Test appearance came against Australia in February 2023.

Since then, he has continued to flourish in white-ball cricket before taking up the T20 International captaincy duties for the Men in Blue.

Effectively, the Buchi Babu outing will be a mere warm-up for Suryakumar and others in the mix, given they all will be part of the Duleep Trophy beginning September 5.

Suryakumar’s last competitive outing in First-Class cricket came during the Duleep Trophy last year.

Playing for West Zone, Suryakumar managed only 71 runs in four innings at an average of just 17.75, with a top score of 52, while his side, led by Priyank Panchal, lost the final to South Zone by 75 runs.

Besides Surya, Sarfaraz and Shreyas will also be among the attractions in the Mumbai squad.

Sarfaraz, who made his Test debut earlier this year against England, has been promising with the bat, managing 200 runs in five innings at an average of 50.00, including three half-centuries.

As for Iyer, he is yet to leave a mark in the longest format after 14 Tests, while since January 2023, he has only managed 187 runs in 12 innings at an average of only 17.00, with a top score of only 35.

Therefore, while there is no headache for Sarfaraz heading into this Buchi Babu meet, the upcoming domestic season holds more significance for Iyer,who will will be leading Team D in the Duleep Trophy.

Mumabi’s opponents TNCA XI will be led by R Sai Kishore, who was the leading wicket-taker in Ranji Trophy last season.

Teams (from)

TNCA XI: R Sai Kishore (c), Pradosh Ranjan Paul (vc), Mokit RS Hariharan, G Ajitesh, Indrajith Baba, Boopathi Vaishna Kumar, S Lokeshwar (wk), SR Athish (wk), R Sonu Yadav, P Vidyuth, S Lakshya Jain, S Ajith Ram, G Govinth, CV Achyuth, H Trilok Nag and V Yudheeswaran.

Mumbai: Sarfaraz Khan (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Akhil Herwadkar, Divyansh Saxena, Musheer Khan, Vedant Murkar, Siddhanth Addhatrao, Suryansh Shedge, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Himanshu Singh, Atharva Ankolekar, Roystan Dias, Mohit Avasthi, Sylvester Dsouza and Junaid Khan.

Match starts: 9.30 am (IST).