Mumbai would be without their new found off spinner Akshay Girap for the five-day Ranji Trophy cricket semifinals against defending champions Karnataka starting on February 25 at Bengaluru.
The 29-year-old Girap, inducted into the squad of the 40-time champions towards the later stages of their floundering league campaign, met with an accident while riding his bike on Sunday night and is unavailable for the game, said Mumbai Cricket Association’s joint secretary Nitin Dalal.
“Girap was picked in the squad on Sunday by our selectors but unfortunately he met with an accident while riding his bike last night and we have been told he won’t be available for the semifinal game. He has been replaced by Mairaj Khan, also an off-spinner and lower order batsman,” Dalal told
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Girap, who played his first game against Tamil Nadu at Chennai in January, has taken nine wickets in the season from three matches, including three against Karnataka in the league phase.
Mumbai, otherwise, have retained the same squad that came from behind to score an outright victory over Group B toppers Delhi in the quarterfinals after conceding a ten-run first innings lead for the semifinal at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
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Aditya Tare (Captain), Abhishek Nayar, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Siddhesh Lad, Sufiyan Shaikh, Shardul Thakur, Nikhil Patil, Akhil Herwadkar, Shrideep Mangela, Wilkin Mota, Tushar Deshpande, Mairaj Khan, Harmeet Singh and Balwinder Singh Sandhu.
Coach: Pravin Amre. Manager: Shrikant Tigdi.