Former India cricketer Ajay Jadeja is set to return to competetive cricket after a gap of six years. The 42-year-old, who was a mainstay of the Indian middleorder in the late 90s scoring 5,359 runs with six centuries in 196 ODIs, will lead Haryana at the Kalpati-Buchi Babu all-India invitation tournament that begins here on Thursday.
Jadeja, who earned cult status for his 25-ball blitz of 45 against Pakistan at the 1996 World Cup quarter-final, last played a competetive tournament at the Hong Kong International Sixes in 2007 after his last Ranji appearance representing Rajasthan the same year.
Sources suggest that Jadeja, whose five-year ban for alleged match-fixing was quashed by the Delhi High Court in 2003, has been polishing his game of late in a bid to play the Indian Premier League.
Another prominent name to feature in Haryana team is pacer Mohit Sharma, who made his India debut in the recent Zimbabwe bilateral series.
Apart from three Tamil Nadu teams, the tournament has 10 other outfits. Off-spinner R. Ashwin, who was given rest for the Zimbabwe series, will captain TNCA XI, while Mohammed Kaif will leading the Uttar Pradesh XI.
Teams: Group A: Karnataka, Bengal, Andhra. Group B: UPCA, TNCA XI, Tripura. Group C: Haryana, Hyderabad, TNCA Combined Districts. Group D: Assam, TNCA President’s XI, Baroda, Kerala