'Recovered' Suryakumar Yadav returns to Mumbai Indians squad

Allrounder Suryakumar Yadav has been permitted to return to the Mumbai Indians squad ahead of the Champions League T20 semi-finals after having originally been withdrawn due to injury. As a result, the Champions League has withdrawn the concession given to Mumbai Indians to field five foreign players in each game, and the franchise will have to stick to the four foreigners that other sides are allowed.

Yadav was originally one of eight Indian players reported injured by Mumbai Indians, leaving them with just seven Indian players in their squad. However, on September 29 he played in an under-22 tournament in Mumbai and scored 191 for Chandrakant Pandit XI against Dlip Vengsarkar XI. Following that, the Champions League has announced in a statement that: "Yadav had originally been replaced in the squad due to injury, however given he has recovered and Mumbai has a shortage of Indian players in their squad he is now permitted to return to the group."

Out of Mumbai Indians' 23 contracted players, eight were declared unfit for the Champions League - Yadav, Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni, Munaf Patel, Ali Murtaza, Aditya Tare and Pawan Suyal. That meant the final 14-member squad had an equal number of Indian and overseas players, without a buffer to handle any potential injury to an Indian player. The organisers then allowed Mumbai Indians to field five overseas cricketers in their playing XI, though other other IPL sides continued to be limited to four.

Mumai Indians suffered another blow during the tournament when South African wicketkeeper-batsman Davy Jacobs was ruled out after picking up a hip injury. With him out of the squad and Yadav returning, Mumbai Indians have six foreign players and eight Indians.

Despite their injury problems, Mumbai Indians were the first side to make it through to the semi-finals, where they will face Somerset on October 8 in Chennai.