Ranji Trophy 2026-27: Mumbai vice-captain Ayush Mhatre dominated out for a month with hamstring harm

MUMBAI: In a significant setback for Mumbai at the beginning of the Ranji Trophy season, their newly appointed vice-captain Ayush Mhatre has suffered a recurrence of his proper hamstring harm and has been dominated out for a month. The setback means the younger opener is ready to overlook Mumbai’s remaining three matches of the primary leg of the Ranji Trophy, TOI has learnt.The recurrence is an enormous blow for Mhatre, who was not too long ago named Siddhesh Lad’s deputy for the Ranji Trophy by the Mumbai selectors.The top-order batter had earlier suffered a hamstring harm whereas taking part in for Chennai Super Kings (CSK), which dominated him out of the second half of IPL 2026. He was subsequently out of motion for nearly 5 months, lacking the T20 Mumbai match in June, India A’s tour of Sri Lanka and the Duleep Trophy in August.Mhatre sustained the harm after scoring 48 on the opening day of Mumbai’s first-innings effort in opposition to Chandigarh on the Wankhede Stadium. He didn’t take the sphere on the second and third days of the Ranji Trophy 2026-27 match. The 19-year-old underwent scans on Monday, whereas substitute Suved Parkar fielded in his place.At the time of his harm throughout IPL 2026, Mhatre was CSK’s main run-scorer within the match, with 201 runs in six innings at a strike fee of 177.87.Mhatre had undergone rehabilitation on the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru. The Mumbai Cricket Association’s (MCA) physio cleared him to return to the Ranji Trophy after he featured within the ultimate spherical of the Kanga League, scoring 25 for Sainath Cricket Club in a ‘B’ Division match.His newest harm might open the door for in-form Kolkata Knight Riders opener Angkrish Raghuvanshi, 22, to earn a call-up for Mumbai’s subsequent Ranji Trophy match in opposition to Himachal Pradesh in Bilaspur from October 18 to 21. Raghuvanshi has struck back-to-back double centuries, scoring 203 and 201 for the Rest of India Under-23 staff in opposition to Tamil Nadu in Chennai and for the Mumbai Under-23 aspect in opposition to Bengal in Kolkata on Tuesday, respectively.At Mumbai’s pre-season press convention, Mhatre had spoken about his preparations following a prolonged harm layoff. With captain Siddhesh Lad seated beside him, he stated, “I used to be within the nets for 3 weeks. So, the preparation goes rather well. And I’ve obtained some video games additionally within the CoE. We (the Mumbai staff) performed at MCA-BKC additionally. So, it was actually good for us to spend a while on the bottom. So, we’re properly ready.“