Focus on Suryakumar Kumar, Shreyas Iyer and Sarfaraz Khan at Buchi Babu’s meeting

Indian all-rounder Suryakumar Yadav will feature for Mumbai in the Buchi Babu match against TNCA XI, which begins in Coimbatore on Tuesday, looking to get his Test career back on track. Shreyas Iyer, who is also part of the Mumbai squad, will also be looking to make a statement at the pre-season event, having last played a Test in February. The star-studded Mumbai side will be led by Sarfaraz Khan, who will also have to jostle for a place in a full-strength Test squad when the home season begins next month, despite a promising start against England earlier this year.

Players like Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant, who were unavailable for various reasons in the five-match series against England, are expected to be available for the two-Test series against Bangladesh that begins on September 19 in Chennai.

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

Since then, he has continued to flourish in white-ball cricket before taking over as the T20 international captain for the Men in Blue. In fact, Buchi Babu’s outing will be just a warm-up for Suryakumar and the others in the mix, given that they will all be part of the Duleep Trophy starting September 5.

Suryakumar’s last competitive outing in first-class cricket came in the Duleep Trophy last year.

Playing for West Zone, Suryakumar managed just 71 runs in four innings at an average of just 17.75, with a top score of 52, as his team, 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 team.

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

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

Therefore, even though Sarfaraz has no headaches ahead of this Buchi Babu encounter, the upcoming domestic season holds more significance for Iyer, who will lead the D team in the Duleep Trophy.

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

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

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

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