No place for Herwadkar as Bista to lead Mumbai U-23

MUMBAI: Mumbai opener Jay Bista will lead the Under-23 team in the Col

CK Nayudu Trophy

final against Delhi, which will be played from December 17 to 20 at MCA Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy, Bandra Kurla Complex.

Interestingly, Bista's colleague in the Mumbai team,

Akhil Herwadkar

failed to find a place in the side for the summit clash. When the season began, the lefthanded opener was picked in the

Duleep Trophy

, but managed to play only four games in the Ranji Trophy this season, in which he scored 224 runs@32.00, with a sole hundred against Tamil Nadu. Batting at No. 3, Herwadkar scored 32 & 26 as Mumbai were drubbed by an innings & 20 runs by Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals earlier this month. Herwadkar has scored 2298 runs in 35 matches at an average of 39.62, including seven hundreds.

"We had to leave him out due to a technicality. The selectors can pick only three Ranji players, and apart from Bista, we picked Karsh Kothari (left-arm spinner) and Minad Manjrekar (pacer) because we needed some experience in bowling. Ajit Agarkar (Mumbai chief selector) has spoken to Akhil," a

Mumbai Cricket Association

(MCA) official told TOI on Friday.

The Squad: Jay Bista (C), Sairaj Patil (VC), Shams Mulani, Hardik Tamore, Vaidik Murkar, Minad Manjrekar, Khizar Dafedar, Aashay Sardesai, Karsh Kothari, Vikas Singh, Sagar Jadhav, Siddharth Akre, Prasad Pawar, Salman Khan, Pranav Menon