India batter Yashasvi Jaiswal is set to return to the Ranji Trophy for Mumbai during the semi-final against Vidarbha in Nagpur from Feb 17-21. The move comes after the batter was replaced in India's Champions Trophy squad with mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy.

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Jaiswal was included in India's provisional 15-man squad for the ICC tournament but was eventually left out in the final squad announced on Feb 11.

Jaiswal's presence will add more power to a star-studded Mumbai team. Apart from Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane, T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube and Shardul Thakur are the other India internationals in Mumbai's squad.

Gambhir explains Jaiswal's snub

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Roping in Chakaravarthy in place of Jaiswal raised a few eyebrows but India coach Gautam Gambhir gave an explanation around that after India's final ODI against England on Feb 12. Notably, Varun was included in the England squad only after his 14-wicket Player of the Series performance in the T20Is vs England prior to the ODIs.

"I'm not going to say that he's going to start and all that stuff, but it's always good to have a strong bowling line-up because we know that if he can actually get those wickets in the middle, it's always going to be an advantage, and that was one of the reasons. Otherwise, we know that Yashasvi has got a fabulous future ahead. It's just that we could only pick 15," Gambhir had said.

Jaiswal in Ranji Trophy

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Jaiswal has previously played one game in Ranji Trophy this season - the same match where Rohit Sharma marked his return to the domestic cricket - against Jammu and Kashmir. The batter, however, had failed to impress in the match - scoring four runs in the first innings and 26 in the second one.

Mumbai went on to lose the match by five wickets - putting them in a tricky position to make it to the QFs but they somehow managed eventually.