MUMBAI: In another huge boost to his fledgling career and a vote of confidence in his abilities, Mumbai’s senior selection committee, led by Rajesh Pawar, on Monday appointed opener Ayush Mhatre as the new vice-captain of Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy squad for the first match of the 2026-27 season against Chandigarh from Oct 11 at the Wankhede Stadium, even as they snubbed India’s 2026 T20 World Cup winning captain Suryakumar Yadav, who had earlier confirmed his availability and willingness to be a part of Mumbai’s Ranji side, on the grounds that he needed to “play more red-ball cricket.”The 16-member squad, which will be captained by veteran batter Siddhesh Lad, includes India’s Test opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sarfaraz Khan.The 36-year-old Suryakumar didn’t feature in any of pre-season tournaments for Mumbai, the local Kanga League, and didn’t take part in the in Mumbai’s intra-squad matches at the Brabourne Stadium and the MCA’s ground in BKC recently.“If Surya were to be picked, Musheer Khan, who scored 96 for West Zone in the Duleep Trophy in Aug, would have had to be dropped. That wasn’t feasible,” a source in the Mumbai Cricket Association told TOI.The selection committee was attended by former India skipper Dilip Vengsarkar, who is the MCA’s Cricket Advisor.“Surya is available but it was thought to go with the youngsters for the time being. He is obviously a big-match player and a proven performer for Mumbai. We just want to get into rhythm by playing a few red-ball matches. Surya hasn’t played a red-ball match for the last 18 months, so we want him to have a few games under his belt and then he can get into the team,” Pawar told reporters.Throwing light on the appointment of Lad and Mhatre as the new captain and vice-captain of the Mumbai team, Pawar said, “The selection committee unanimously has gone with experienced Siddhesh Lad as the captain for the seasons. Along with a senior, we have planned to groom a junior in Ayush as the vice-captain. He has led the India Under-19 to the (U-19) World Cup win, is a smart cricketer and is in excellent nick.”TOI had reported about veteran seam bowling allrounder Shardul Thakur suffering from a hand injury during a practice match at the Cricket Club of India after being struck by a ball hit by Mhatre and is likely to miss a few matches initially of Mumbai’s 2026-27 Ranji Trophy campaign. “Shardul has a slight fracture in his right middle finger. He may be unavailable for the first two matches,” Pawar said.Talking about Jaiswal being available for the first Ranji game, Pawar said, “It’s very good that Yashasvi is playing the season-opener. He also needs game-time and the team will also benefit. His availability and that of a lot of players for the next game is yet to be known due to the impending India and India A selection, so we have selected the squad only for the first game.”Reposing his faith in the Mumbai squad picked for the first Ranji Trophy match, Pawar said, “The preparation has been excellent. We played four-day games at the KSCA Invitational and then played in Puducherry as well. We could properly watch 25 to 30 players in action and based on it, we have selected a squad that is ready for the season. This is our best team and the youngsters have also come in on the back of excellent performances and the seasoned players are in-form for India A and Duleep Trophy.”A notable omission was young opener Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who recently scored a double century (203) for Rest of India Under-23 team against CK Nayudu Trophy champions Tamil Nadu on the weekend. “Angkrish has missed out over here but he will be involved in the U-23 squad,” Pawar said.Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy Squad: Siddhesh Lad (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ayush Mhatre (VC), Divyansh Saxena, Musheer Khan, Sarfaraz Khan, Suved Parkar, Aakash Anand (WK), Hardik Tamore (WK), Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Atharva Ankolekar, Tushar Deshpande, Mohit Awasthi, Sylvester Dsouza, Onkar Tarmale.