Ranji Trophy is back again. Defending champion Mumbai will have its eye on 42nd title. Their opponents in the first round, Tamil Nadu, which had a pretty ordinary season, will be keen to put a better show this time to win back trophy they last won in 1987-88.

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The Board of Control for Cricket in India has introduced the concept of neutral venues to take away home advantage from the hosts. So, Mumbai won't be playing any of their home games in their home venues. It is the same for other teams.

Mumbai captain Aditya Tare and team are geared up with the same enthusiasm like every year to carry on the legacy of their predecessors of getting back the silverware.

However, there is a bad news for the starters. They will miss the services of the their start batsman Shreyas Iyer who suffered a quadricep injury in Australia and is yet to recover from it. Another major omission is of their main stay Siddhesh Lad, suffereing from back spasm.

But fans can look forward to the new exciting talent Armaan Jaffer and the run machine that he is many would be looking for him to deliver the promise.

Rest remains the same. Tare will lead while Abhishek Nayar will don the mentoring role. Dhawal Kulkarni and Shardul Thakur will be out to impress Indian selectors once again and Akhil Herwadkar will be keen to show that the last season where he got 879 runs wasn't a fluke.

Tamil Nadu is another exciting side. It is a mix of young and experience. The senior batsman Abhinav Mukund will lead in the absence of Murali Vijay with Dinesh Karthik helping him as a pro. A young U-19 star Washington Sunday will be out to impress along with the Baba duo – Aparajith and Indrajith.

Squad

Mumbai: Aditya Tare (C), Abhishek Nayar, Dawal Kulkarni, Shardul Thakur, Suryakumar Yadav, Nikhil Patil Jr, Akhil Herwadkar, Jay Bista, Arman Jaffer, Kaustub Pawar, Sufiyan Shaikh, Balwinder Sandhu Jr, Tushar Deshpande, Vijay GohilTamil Nadu: Abhinav Mukund (C), Baba Aparajith, Aswin Crist, Aushik Srivanas, Kaushik Gandhi, Baba Indrajith, Narayan Jagadeesan, Dinesh Karthik, J Koushik, M Mohammed, T Natrajan, Malolan Rangarajan, Rahil Shah, Laxmesha Suryaprakash, Krishnamoorthy Vignesh, Washinton Sundar

Elsewhere

Group A

Baroda v Gujarat at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, JaipurMumbai v Tamil Nadu at CH Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium, Lahli, RohtakPunjab v Railways at Palam A Ground, Model Sports Complex, DelhiMadhya Pradesh v Uttar Pradesh at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad

Group B

Jharkhand v Maharashtra at Karnail Singh Stadium, DelhiOdisha v Vidarbha at Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, VizagAssam v Delhi at Reliance Stadium, VadodaraRajasthan v Saurashtra at Dr PVG Raju ACA Sports Complex, Vizianagaram

Group C

Andhra v Himachal Pradesh at KIIT Stadium, BhubaneswarChhattisgarh v Tripura at JSCA International Stadium Complex, RanchiGoa v Hyderabad at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, NagpurHaryana v Services at Brabourne Stadium, MumbaiKerala v Jammu & Kashmir at Bengal Cricket Academy Ground, Kalyani