IPL 11: Mumbai Indians asks Vidarbha star Rajneesh Gurbani to opt for trials

Reigning Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Mumbai Indians management has asked the rising star and Ranji Trophy 2017-18 hot property Rajneesh Gurbani — to take part in the trials that was equally confirmed by the fast bowler himself on Tuesday.

“Yes, I have been called for the trials in Mumbai. Let’s see how it goes,” Gurbani was quoted as saying by Sportstar.

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Vidarbha fast bowler Rajneesh Gurbani, who has grabbed all the headlines for his stellar run has further starred in his side’s maiden Ranji Trophy title win over Rishabh Pant’s Delhi, has been called up for final trials by defending Indian Premier League champions Mumbai Indians. Gurbani, who grabbed the eyeballs by bagging 39 wickets in this Ranji season, reached Mumbai on Tuesday morning to attend the trials.

The 24-year-old Nagpur-based medium pacer Gurbani has played an immense role for his state-side to lift the maiden Ranji Trophy title after routing Delhi by nine wickets on Monday (January 1, 2018) at Holkar Stadium in Indore.

The right-arm fast bowler Gurbani was also announced Man of the final for eight wickets in the grand finale as he collected 39 wickets in his six outing for Vidarbha since October 14, 2017, against Punjab at Mohali.

Since making his debut in October 2016, Gurbani did not look back which saw him having the phenomenal average of 19.28 with the ball in 10 first-class fixtures. The promising bowler has had collected 52 wickets in 19 innings.

However, protagonist with the ball claimed the five-wicket haul in this season in his last four outings

Have a look at a video capsule of the most memorable moments in 2017.

After confirming the latest development, Gurbani has already reached to Mumbai in a bid to roll over his arms in the final trials by the Rohit Sharma-led IPL outfit.

In first four four-day fixtures, last year, Gurbani claimed 13 wickets before delivering big for the Faiz Fazal-led Vidarbha.

Interestingly, Gurbani recently becomes the second-ever Indian to register the hat-trick in the Ranji Trophy final since 1972-73 when Tamil Nadu’s B Kalyanasundaram registered hat-trick over the then Bombay.

On the other side, Mumbai side has already claimed three titles so far in first ten editions of the widely acclaimed league.

Reportedly, the retained players for Mumbai are in the form of captain Rohit Sharma and impressive Hardik Pandya and his elder brother Krunal Pandya.

“Skipper Rohit Sharma is an automatic retention having led the team to three IPL titles. Hardik Pandya is one of the big match-winners and the interesting third retention would be Krunal Pandya,” an official for BCCI revealed earlier.

However, it is expected that overseas campaigner Kieron Pollard might be brought into the fold with the Right to Match (RTM) cards, as the death over specialist Jasprit Bumrah is expected to be another player being picked in such a manner.

The auction is bound to take place on January 27 with the deadline already set on January 4 for different franchises owing to the retention list of players for the eleventh edition of the league which will kick off in April.

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