India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav is set to lead Mumbai in the upcoming 2025-26 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the Indian Express understands. The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) senior selection committee will be meeting on Friday afternoon. It is learnt that Yadav has expressed his availability to play T20 league games before joining the Indian team to take part in five T20I games against visiting South Africa.
It is learnt that Yadav, who is the Indian cricket team’s T20I captain, wants to prepare for white ball cricket, keeping the T20 World Cup 2026 in mind, and he has made himself available for white ball cricket lined up ahead in the season.
Mumbai is scheduled to play its Syed Mushtaq Ali league game in Lucknow starting from November 26. It will be interesting to see if Yadav plays the last two league games to be played on December 6 and 8, with the first T20I against South Africa scheduled for December 9 at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. Mumbai will be playing league games against Railways, Vidarbha, Andhra, Assam, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha.
The MCA selection committee had picked Shardul Thakur as their Ranji Trophy skipper earlier this season, while Shreyas Iyer was expected to lead in white ball cricket. However, with Iyer injured and Yadav available, MCA will go with India’s T20I captain to lead their title defence.
Yadav had earlier informed MCA that he would skip Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy game against Puducherry. The MCA had also agreed to Shivam Dube’s request not to take part in the next Ranji Trophy game and instead allowed him to prepare for the upcoming South Africa T20I series.
Yadav’s last appearance for Mumbai came early this year when he played against Vidarbha in the Ranji Trophy semi-finals, and since the beginning of the domestic season, he has been busy with international commitments.
