PUNE: India batters Ruturaj Gaikwad and Prithvi Shaw were on Thursday named in Maharashtra’s 17-member squad for the All India Buchi Babu Invitational Tournament, to be played in Chennai from 18 August to 9 September.
Ankit Bawane has been named captain of the Maharashtra squad.
It will be the first assignment for top-order batter Shaw, who had left Mumbai before the start of the season and joined Maharashtra. The 25-year-old will be eager to make a fresh start after a torrid run last season with Mumbai, when he was allegedly dropped on the grounds of fitness and discipline by the domestic giants.
Gaikwad, who featured in the warm-up matches between India A and India ahead of the national team’s Test series in England, will also be keen to make his mark.
However, both Gaikwad and wicketkeeper Saurabh Nawale are expected to leave after playing one game, as they will need to link up with the West Zone squad in Bengaluru for the Duleep Trophy.
West Zone have received direct entry into the semi-finals and will play their first game on 4 September.
Squad: Ankit Bawane (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prithvi Shaw, Siddhesh Veer, Sachin Dhas, Arshin Kulkarni, Harshal Kate, Siddharth Mhatre, Saurabh Nawale (wk), Mandar Bhandari (wk), Ramakrishna Ghosh, Mukesh Choudhary, Pradeep Dadhe, Vicky Ostwal, Hitesh Walunj, Prashant Solanki, Rajvardhan Hangargekar.