In the ongoing game between Mumbai and Chennai, Hrithik Shokeen has made his debut for Mumbai. Shokeen is a right-arm off-break bowler and a right-handed batter, who has represented India at U19 and U23 levels. Notably, he was trained by the late Tarak Sinha, who passed away in November last year. Coming back to Shokeen, he has played eight List A games and has as many scalps to his name.
The Delhi-born has also played two youth Tests for India. Both of them were against South Africa in Thiruvananthapuram in February 2019. In the first game, he returned with figures of 50/4 and 52/3 with the ball and scored 20 with the bat. In the next game, the off-spinner returned with 44/2 and 11/1. He has made his debut in the Indian T20 League 2022, replacing leg-spinner Murugan Ashwin.
Ashwin has had an ordinary season with the ball, picking just six wickets in as many games, averaging 27.33 at an economy rate of 7.81. Notably, the 21-year-old has made a debut at a time when the team needs to win every game from now on to qualify for the playoffs. They have played six and have lost as many in the season.
If they finish outside of the playoffs, this will be the first time after 2008 and 2009 when the Men in Blue and Gold will finish outside of the playoffs for the second consecutive time. Last year, the five-time winners finished fifth in the points table. At the toss, Â skipper Rohit Sharma said that the team is trying to keep things as simple as possible.
“We are trying to keep things as simple as possible and not complicate them, but the season has not gone as we wanted and hence those many changes. We have to win all games, but we can’t look that far ahead. We have to see how we perform in this game and take it from there,” he said at the coin toss. Meanwhile, Mumbai are in trouble in the ongoing game at 119-6 at the time of writing.
