Jadeja not to play in US league

Ajay Jadeja: misses out on ProCricket action © AFP Enlarge

Ajay Jadeja, the former Indian middle-order batsman, is due to return from the USA without playing in any of the American Pro Cricket (APC) matches. This came about after the Board of Control for Cricket in India instructed the players to keep off the event following instructions from the International Cricket Council.

The ICC had clearly said that the only body that they recognized was the USA Cricket Association (USACA), an associate member of the ICC, which would mean that this tournament would not come under their purview.

The Indo-Asian News Service quoted Jadeja's wife, Aditi Jaitly as saying, "Ajay is not playing in the matches over there and he is coming back home within a week. He is coming back because there is no clarity in the instructions issued by the board."

Aditi confirmed that Jadeja had not played in any of the matches in the league. "I was also in the US until June 29, and to the best of my knowledge, he has not played any match of the league. He only played an exhibition match on June 19. Subsequently, he withdrew after the BCCI issued its instructions. But I don't know if there was any written contract between APC and Jadeja."

Besides Jadeja, Rahul Sanghvi and Nikhil Chopra - both former Indian cricketers - were also in the USA to take part in the eight-team league, which began on Friday. Whether both of them will be returning along with Jadeja, is not known at the moment.

The same agency reported LK Sanghvi, Rahul's father, as saying, "I don't think he will be returning home soon, but I have not talked to him." The official site of APC, mentions that Jadeja, Sanghvi and Chopra, will conduct a three-day cricket camp for Under-15 cricketers.

However, the BCCI's stance is still unclear and whether this ruling holds for contracted players from the Test-playing countries or for all first-class cricketers is not certain. "The instructions from the ICC were very clear," said SK Nair, the secretary of the BCCI. "The contracted players cannot play in the league, and we put that out in a press release last month."

Several cricketers - including Vinod Kambli, Sanjay Bangar and Deep Dasgupta - had initially sought permission from the BCCI to play in the league.