India’s ODI vice-captain Shreyas Iyer, who has received clearance from the BCCI’s CoE to return to competitive cricket for Mumbai, will lead his domestic team in their final two league matches of the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT) in Jaipur.

Iyer replaces regular skipper Shardul Thakur, who was ruled out of the competition on Monday (January 5) owing to a calf injury.

“Shreyas will lead Mumbai in their last two league matches of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Thakur has been ruled out for one to three weeks,” a source in the Mumbai Cricket Association told TOI.

Shreyas Iyer himself was on the sidelines since suffering a spleen injury while fielding during the third ODI against Australia at SCG in October this year. As a result of that injury, he missed the recent 50-over series against South Africa with Ruturaj Gaikwad batting at his No.4 spot.

While Iyer has been picked for the upcoming New Zealand ODI series at home, his availability is subject to fitness clearance from the BCCI’s medical team and the VHT fixtures against Himachal Pradesh (January 6) and Punjab (January 8) will serve as the final checkpoint before a potential India comeback. He has already completed match simulations at the CoE on January 2.

Apart from Iyer, Mumbai’s squad was bolstered by the arrival of India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav and all-rounder Shivam Dube in Jaipur on Monday.

Mumbai’s prolific batter Sarfaraz Khan missed the last game against Maharashtra due to pain in his quadriceps, but he is likely to return for the remaining league matches.

Mumbai, placed second in Elite Group C with 16 points from five matches, need at least one win from their remaining fixtures to qualify for the knockouts. Their net run rate (1.293) took a beating after a 128-run defeat to Maharashtra.

(With TOI Inputs)