Bangalore, May 1: Karnataka off-spinner Ryan Ninan is most likely to replace the banned Harbhajan Singh in the Mumbai Indians’ IPL team.The 23-year-old offie received a call on Thursday from Mumbai team manager Rahul Sanghvi asking him to report to the team on Friday in Mumbai.

“I have been asked to come on Friday and I will play a practice game,” Ninan confirmed to this newspaper.”If I impress the team management then I might get to sign the contract soon,” he added.Mumbai’s search for a new player was necessitated by the fact that Harbhajan — who led the team in the first three matches in the absence of Sachin Tendulkar — was hit with a 11-match ban for slapping India teammate S. Sreesanth that ruled him out of the tournament.

If the under-rated Ninan clinches the deal, he will become fourth Karnataka player and the first bowler to join the Mumbai Indians after Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey and Gaurav Dhiman.Ninan has had a chequered career for the state but it has not been his fault.Ignored by the state selectors despite having impressed in the local league, Ninan lost out to the KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel’s son, Udit.If Ninan does get a look-in, it might turn out to be the perfect launch pad for him.

Source: howrah.org