Vishal Dabholkar returns to Mumbai Ranji team

Left-arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar has made a comeback to the Mumbai side for the first two Ranji Trophy games against hosts Andhra (Oct 1-4) and Punjab (Oct 8-11). He was dropped from the team last year due to an ordinary season.

The 28-year-old, who took eight wickets from five matches and eight innings last season, was sidelined after he returned with the figures of 0 for 58 against Tamil Nadu on a turning track of Chepauk. Mumbai lost the league game by an innings and 44 runs.

Dabholkar makes the comeback riding on a match-winning performance of six for 46 that guided MCA Colts to beat TNCA Districts XI by six wickets in the off-season Buchi Babu All India Invitation Cricket Tournament final in Chennai last month.

All-rounder Abhishek Raut made it to the team following his impressive show in practice games in Hyderabad recently. "He is a good batsman and leg-spinner. He is also a good fielder. He did well in the practice games in Hyderabad," said a Mumbai cricket offficial.

Rest of the team remains the same and will be lead by Aditya Tare. However, there is no update on Zaheer Khan's fitness who was named in the probables.

Team: Aditya Tare (C), Akhil Herwadkar, Shrideep Mangela, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Abhishek Nayar, Siddhesh Lad, Nikhil Patil (Jr.), Dhawal Kulkarni, Shardul Thakur, Balwinder Singh Sandhu (Jr.), Vishal Dabholkar, Abhishek Raut, Badre Alam, Harmeet Singh