Siddhesh Lad Steps Up as Mumbai Captain in Vijay Hazare Trophy Knockouts

Due to a calf injury that requires at least three weeks of rest, Shardul Thakur will be absent, while Shreyas Iyer has joined the Indian team for the ODI series against New Zealand. As a result, Siddhesh Lad will captain Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy knockouts.

Shardul, Sylvester D’Souza, and Chinmay Sutar, who played in the group stage, will not participate in the knockouts. Instead, Atharva Ankolekar and Mohit Avasthi have been called up and will join the team in Bengaluru.

Although Lad was designated as Mumbai’s vice-captain this season, he missed most of the Vijay Hazare group stage due to the inclusion of international players.

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Mumbai had an impressive group stage, securing victory in six out of seven matches and finishing at the top of Group C. Sarfaraz Khan emerged as a leading run-scorer, while emerging talents Musheer Khan and Angkrish Raghuvanshi made significant contributions when it was needed most.

The team will travel from Jaipur to Bengaluru on Friday and will train over the following days in preparation for the knockout stage at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence, starting next Monday.

There is still uncertainty surrounding Shardul’s return. The team management hopes he will be fit by January 22 when the Ranji Trophy resumes, but his condition will be closely monitored.

“Everyone has advised me to monitor the situation daily and take things easy. For now, the management is easing this week, and we will decide the future steps based on observations in the upcoming weeks,” Shardul told Sportstar. “It’s hard to specify a return date, as I will need to keep track daily…”

Published on Jan 08, 2026