Mohammed Siraj named as Hyderabad's captain for this tournament following Tilak Varma's injury

India pacer Mohammed Siraj will be leading Hyderabad for the remainder of the Ranji Trophy season while Rahul Gahlaut has been named as his deputy. Hyderabad will be facing Mumbai and Chhattisgarh in their remaining two rounds of the season that will be played on January 22 and 29 respectively.

This comes after Tilak Varma, who had been the team's captain in Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT) and had led them in multiple matches, sustained an abdominal injury after the fifth round. This saw him miss Hyderabad's final two matches of the group stage and now his participation in India's upcoming T20I series against New Zealand is also not guaranteed.

Siraj's performance against New Zealand

On the other hand, Siraj has been featuring for India in the ongoing ODI series against New Zealand. He did pick up two scalps in the first match, but ended up going wicketless in the second match. According to The Indian Express, Siraj was handed leadership duties despite having no captaincy experience due to his international success.

Though Siraj hasn't played any red-ball match for Hyderabad this season, he has featured for them in a few matches in both the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) and VHT. He picked up seven wickets each in both the tournaments and looked to be in decent form.

Hyderabad on Ranji Trophy standings

Hyderabad is currently placed fourth in Elte Group D of the Ranji Trophy with 13 points from five games. They are level on points with Rajasthan, who stand third while Mumbai and Jammu & Kashmir are the top two teams in the group respectively. Siraj's arrival will be a big boost for Hyderabad as their chances of making it to the knockouts are still alive. It remains to be seen if they will be able to win their final two group stage games of the domestic tournament.

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Meanwhile, Siraj will be looking to deliver in the third and final ODI of the series against New Zealand that will be played on December 18 at the Holkar stadium in Indore. The series is currently tied at 1-1 after the Kiwis defeated the hosts comprehensively by 7 wickets in the 2nd ODI on Wednesday.