Iyer, Lad to miss opener; Unmukt to lead Delhi

Iyer, Lad miss opening game Mumbai, 41-time champions, will begin their title defence against Tamil Nadu in Lahli without the services of the injured duo of Shreyas Iyer and Siddhesh Lad. While Iyer hasn’t yet recovered from a hamstring injury he picked up during India A’s tour of Australia last month, Lad is suffering from back spasms. Mumbai’s chairman of selectors Milind Rege said Lad had had a recurrence of an old injury. “We will wait on his progress in the next five to seven days, but we hope that Iyer will be fit for the next game [against Baroda in Delhi from October 13],” he said.

Iyer was the highest run-getter in Ranji Trophy 2015-16 with 1321 from 11 games at an average of 73.38. Lad has established himself in the middle order in recent times, and scored a crucial 88 in the final against Saurashtra last year.

Shifting of venues The Rajasthan-Saurashtra game in the opening round has been shifted to Vizianagaram from Chennai because of the hosting of the senior women’s one-day league. The second match in Chennai between Karnataka and Jharkhand from October 13 to 16 has also been moved to Greater Noida in the wake of the tense situation in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka following the Cauvery verdict.

Tamil Nadu’s camp in Dehradun Tamil Nadu has had a week-long preparatory camp …

continue reading in source www.espncricinfo.com