Shreyas Iyer to lead Mumbai in remainder of Vijay Hazare Trophy

India batter Shreyas Iyer was on Monday named Mumbai’s captain for the remainder of the Vijay Hazare Trophy after regular skipper Shardul Thakur was ruled out due to an injury.  Iyer is also coming back after a long injury layoff having suffered a spleen laceration with internal bleeding during the third ODI against Australia in Sydney in October last year.

“Shardul has suffered an injury and has been advised to rest. We have other players such as Shivam Dube and Suryakumar Yadav available, and Shreyas Iyer has been named the Mumbai captain for remaining matches,” Mumbai chief selector Sanjay Patil told media on Monday without specifying the nature of Thakur’s injury.

With his availability subject to fitness, Iyer, who is also the designated vice-captain for India in ODIs, was named in the three-match series starting against New Zealand in Vadodara on January 11. The other two ODIs against New Zealand will be played on January 14 at Rajkot and January 18 at Indore.

MCA secretary Dr Unmesh Khanvilkar said in a release, “Shreyas Iyer will take over the  leadership responsibilities in place of Shardul Thakur, who has been ruled out of the tournament due to injury and is currently unavailable for selection.”

Iyer will lead Mumbai in their Group C match against Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday followed by the contest against Punjab on January 8. The Vijay Hazare Trophy’s knockout matches will be played at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru fromJanuary 12-18.