Zaheer, Nayar back in Mumbai squad for Ranji quarters

Mumbai got a shot in the arm with senior pacer Zaheer Khan making himself available for leading the defending champions in their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal against Maharashtra, to be held at the Wankhede Stadium here from January 8-12.

The 40-time champions, who struggled to make the knockout stage before edging out Gujarat in the do-or-die final Group A league encounter yesterday, would also benefit by the availability of Abhishek Nayar, who is back after an injury.

Mumbai have made five changes to the squad that defeated Gujarat by leaving out Hiken Shah, Siddesh Lad, Doraiswamy Subramanian, Balwinder Singh Sandhu (Jr) and Pravin Tamb.

Besides, Zaheer and Nayar, Vinit Indulkar, Nikhil Patil (Jr) and Sarvesh Damle have been included in the squad.

The squad: Zaheer Khan (capt), Wasim Jaffer, Abhishek Nayar, Aditya Tare, Kaustubh Pawar, Suryakumar Yadav, Vishal Dabholkar, Javed Khan, Shardul Thakur, Iqbal Abdullah, Sagar Kerkar, Vinit Indulkar, Nikhil Patil (Jr), Sarvesh Damle, Saurabh Netravalkar. Coach: Sulakshan Kulkarni.