Coach Jadeja misses Delhi's opening game

Delhi coach Ajay Jadeja will miss his team's opening game against Rajasthan because his son is unwell. "Ajay (Jadeja) has informed us that he would not be able to perform the coach's duty as his son is not well," DDCA president Sneh Prakash Bansal told PTI. "He is expected to join the team from the second match." There was speculation that Jadeja's absence was motivated by his displeasure over Amit Bhandari's appointment as assistant coach. Bansal, however, denied it was the reason. "For us, Ajay is the chief coach and his decisions are final. If there would have been such a problem, we would have removed Bhandari as Jadeja is more important to us."

Jammu & Kashmir were faced with the possibility of fielding two teams on the eve of their opening game. The Indian Express reported that while the Mithun Manhas-led squad was announced by the Imran Reza Ansari-led faction a few days ago, the rival Farooq Abdullah group announced their own squad, which did not feature Manhas and had Parvez Rasool as captain. The Manhas-led team eventually took the field on the first day.

Manoj Tiwary is likely to be named captain of the Bengal side, after Laxmi Ratan Shukla requested Sourav Ganguly, the CAB joint-secretary, and the selectors to not consider him for captaincy. According to a report in the Telegraph, Tiwary was the only option after Wriddhiman Saha was not firm on taking up the job. The official announcement, the report said, will be made on Thursday when the squad for Bengal's first match, against Karnataka on October 8, is finalised.

Sandeep Sharma has missed Punjab's opening game against Railways with a back injury. He is reportedly out of action for two months. Meanwhile, Varun Aaron, who a few days ago said he wanted some game-time before the Tests against South Africa and was named Jharkhand captain, wasn't part of the XI in their opening match against Services in Delhi.

The BCCI has barred 22 Delhi players from participating in age-group tournaments because of allegations of age fraud, the Indian Express reported. The BCCI's game development manager, Ratnakar Shetty, advised the DDCA against fielding the players till a clearer picture emerged about their age. Shetty's instruction followed a letter from DDCA vice president Chetan Chauhan seeking clarity on whether the players could be fielded. "Two of those against whom the FIR has been filed were part of the under-19 team," Chauhan said. "We didn't want a situation where they were part of the playing XI and then there is further trouble. We are not targeting a particular player but as an FIR has been filed we have checked with the BCCI."