Shreyas Iyer to turn out for Mumbai in Ranji Trophy

MUMBAI: India's middle-order batsman

Shreyas Iyer

, who has been excluded from India's three T20I series at home against Afghanistan, will turn out for Mumbai in their second

Ranji Trophy

match, against Andhra at the

Mumbai Cricket Association

's Bandra-Kurla Complex ground from January 12.
Iyer had endured an ordinary time in the recently-held two Tests series in South Africa, where he was out for scores of 31 & 6 (first Test at Centurion) and 0 & 4* (second Test at Cape Town).

"Iyer expressed his willingness to play in the Ranji Trophy for Mumbai," a source in the Mumbai Cricket Association told TOI on Tuesday, after the selectors picked the 15-man Mumbai squad for the team's second Ranji game of the season. Clearly, the 29-year-old wants to prepare for the five-Test series against England, beginning with the first Test in Hyderabad on January 25, with a few first-class matches under his belt.
Iyer has replaced

Sarfaraz Khan

, who, along with pacer Tushar Deshpande, has left for Ahmedabad to play for India A against the England Lions (A team), in the Mumbai squad for this Ranji match.
Fast bowler Sylvester Dsouza and opener Amogh Bhatkal have received his maiden Mumbai call-up. Both Dsouza and Bhatkal have performed well for the Parsee Gymkhana in local club cricket. "Bhatkal has hit five-six centuries for Nirlon in inter-office cricket, including 260 in the Times Shield against Income Tax. For the Parsee Gymkhana, he scored 149 not out against Payyade SC in the Kanga League, and 109 not out versus Parkophene in the Police Shield," a source said.

Even though skipper Ajinkya Rahane missed out at the last minute due to a stiff neck, Mumbai had thrashed Bihar by an innings & 51 runs in their first Ranji Trophy match of the season and collected seven points, including a bonus from the outing in Patna.
The Squad: Ajinkya Rahane (Captain), Shreyas Iyer, Jay Bista, Bhupen Lalwani, Amogh Bhatkal, Suved Parkar, Prasad Pawar (WK), Hardik Tamore (WK), Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Atharva Ankolekar, Mohit Awasthi, Dhaval Kulkarni, Roystan Dias, Sylvester Dsouza.