New Delhi, Oct 25 (IANS) Mumbai Ranji Team will be without the services of their experienced all-rounder Shardul Thakur, as he continues to recover from a finger injury and is set to miss the Elite round three clash against Haryana, which will be played at the BKC Complex from Monday.

Thakur, who has been sidelined since sustaining the injury during a training session ahead of the season’s opening round, has not regained full match fitness despite returning to training with the Mumbai squad. He was initially expected to miss at least the first two rounds, with the team hoping he would be available for the Haryana fixture.

Mumbai, however, have decided against rushing his return and will field the same squad that registered a convincing victory over Himachal Pradesh in Bilaspur in their previous match, according to Cricinfo.

The 34-year-old last featured in the Duleep Trophy quarter-final for West Zone against North Zone in late August. He took one wicket in 14 overs and scored 10 runs in his only innings as West Zone suffered a 54-run defeat.

While working towards his return to competitive cricket, Thakur is also set to take up commentary duties for some of India’s ongoing T20 Internationals against New Zealand.

Mumbai have made an impressive start to their Ranji Trophy campaign, securing consecutive innings victories to collect 14 points and move to the top of Elite Group D. They opened their campaign with an innings-and-155-run win over Chandigarh at the Wankhede Stadium before defeating Himachal Pradesh by an innings and 97 runs in Bilaspur.

Mumbai will continue to manage their resources carefully with several players unavailable. Vice-captain Ayush Mhatre is recovering from a hamstring injury, while opener Yashasvi Jaiswal is in New Zealand for the upcoming Test series after featuring in the India A series.

Haryana, meanwhile, also enter the contest after winning their opening two matches, setting up a meeting between the top two teams in the group.

--IANS

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