‘What more should Siddhesh Lad, Musheer Khan do for selection?'

Mumbai head into the Ranji Trophy with their third skipper of the season After Ajinkya Rahane Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament and Shams Mulani Vijay Hazare Trophy Prithvi Shaw will lead the city team in the Ranji Trophy The selection of the team has not gone down well with all members of the cricketing fraternity Why no Siddhesh Lad and how can young spin bowling allrounder Musheer Khan not find a placeMeanwhile experienced wicketkeeperbatsman and former captain Aditya Tare 34 has returned to the side Lad may have not set the local cricket tracks on fire but doing away with his experience and past performances is brave to say the leastMusheer has been the Mumbai U19 teamrsquos top wickettaker 28 and has scored 307 runs in the ongoing Cooch Behar Trophy But he has failed to make it to the team picked for the first two Ranji games by the Salil Ankolaheaded selection panellsquoMCA should back LadrsquoFormer Mumbai Cricket Association Joint Secretary Dr PV Shetty and exMumbai Ranji Trophywinning coach Sulakshan Kulkarni have raised issues on the recent Mumbai selection Kulkarni who was Mumbai coach when Lad scored an unbeaten 115 in his debut game against Saurashtra in the Vijay Hazare Trophy at Pune in 2013 felt MCA should back a proven cricketer like Lad Sulakshan Kulkarni amp Dr PV ShettyldquoYou are dropping experienced players like Siddhesh but the players who got an opportunityhellipdid they perform I think young players are getting plenty of opportunities but they fail to grab them In this scenario why not back experienced hands like Tare dropped for Vijay Hazare Trophy and Lad who rescued you and helped to win so many timesrdquo Kulkarni askedKulkarni the former Mumbai wicketkeeperbatsman remarked ldquoWe see how India head coach Rahul Dravid and the national selectors are backing struggling Ajinkya and Cheteshwar Pujara at the international level However itrsquos not the same where Mumbai cricket is concerned MCA needs to back experienced cricketers like Aditya and SiddheshrdquoLad was Mumbairsquos second highest rungetter 112 after skipper Rahane 286 in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy last November when Mumbai were knocked out of the tournament during the league stageLad has scored 16 in the lone game he played in the Vijay Hazare Trophy recently Mumbai managed a solitary win in the domestic oneday tournament where Armaan Jaffer was the topscorermdash138 from five matchesMusheer claimed 10 wickets and scored 70 runs in the Mumbai U19 teamrsquos sixwicket triumph over Haryana in a mustwin U19 Cooch Behar Trophy league game on Thursday which helped Mumbai to enter prequarter final of the tournament Shetty wondered what more a player should do to get picked after performing consistently for his club Payyade SC in tournamentslsquoThey will feel dejectedrsquoldquoWhat more should Musheer and Siddhesh do They will feel dejected and not play club cricket Siddhesh has scored each time Mumbai were in a crisis He deserves to be in the teamrdquo Shetty remarked Kulkarni also raised the important issue of handing out the Mumbai cap easily ldquoWhen we won the Ranji Trophy under Ravi Shastrirsquos captaincy 199394 under Sachin Tendulkarrsquos leadership 199495 and when Sanjay Manjrekar was skipper 199697 around 20 to 25 players represented Mumbai during those seasons However if you look at the last twothree years around 30 to 35 players played for Mumbai Has the Mumbai cap become so easy to earnrdquo he remarkedClearly there are more questions than answers with regards to the present state of Mumbai cricket