Sachin, Sourav, Dravid rested for Challenger Trophy

The trinity of Indian cricket Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid will not be participating in the upcoming NKP Salve Challenger Trophy, as the selectors decided to give them a rest in view of the hectic schedule ahead of Indian team.

Apart from the trio, most of the player’s including skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan have also been rested from the tournament that is scheduled in Ahmedabad from October 25 to 28.

Team India discard Virender Sehwag, who has not been in the team for quite sometime now, will lead the India Blue team while Mohammad Kaif was named captain of India Red. Wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel, who is been in great form off late, will be leading the India Green team.

It seems that it would be a great platform for players like Sehwag, Kaif, Munaf, Parthiv and Raina who are trying hard to stage a comeback in the national squad while it has got utmost importance for the upcoming players who are knocking at the doors of Indian team for showcasing their talent.

The players who became the part of rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) have not been named in any of the three teams announced by BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah through a press release.

Though the release did not give any indication, as why the senior players were left out, it is presumed that it was done to give them a little rest ahead of the important series against Pakistan and Australia. The tournament will certainly lose its sheen since the ‘Big Three’ are not playing in the tournament.

Pakistan is scheduled to visit India in November and December for three Tests and five one-dayer’s that would be followed by India’s tour of Australia.

Left-arm spinner Murali Kartik has also found a place in the India Green team after getting a surprise call in the middle of the ongoing India-Australia series. The challenger tournament will be played on round-robin basis to decide the two finalists.

Teams

India Blue: Virender Sehwag(C), Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina, Neeraj Patel, Arjun Yadav, Joginder Sharma, Ramesh Powar, Amit Mishra, Yo Mahesh, Randeb Bose Swapnil Asnodkar, Rakesh V Dhruv, Saurav Bandekar Praveen Amre (Coach).

India Red: Mohammad Kaif (capt), Karan Goel, Gautam Gambhir, Subramaniam Badrinath, Virat Kohli, Ravneet Ricky, Praveen Kumar, Mahesh Rawat (wk), Pragyan Ojha, Sidharth Trivedi, Ishant Sharma, Pinal Shah, Srikant Munde, Paresh Patel. Lalchand Rajput (Coach).

India Green: Parthiv Patel (capt/wk), Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Murali Kartik, Manoj Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, Abhishek Nayar, Niranjan Behra, Iqbal Abdullah, Pankaj Singh, Munaf Patel, Gagandeep Singh, Anirudh Srikant, Satyajeet Parab, Venkatesh Prasad (Coach).