Jadeja to captain India in Nairobi

New delhi, Sept 18: Indian cricket selectors have named Ajay Jadeja as captain for the four-nation tournament starting in Nairobi later this month.

Jadeja, who missed out India's three-match series against the West Indies in Toronto this month because of injury, would lead the 14-man squad in the absence of Sachin Tendulkar who is consulting doctors in Australia for a recurring pain in his back, domestic newspapers said.

Kenya, South Africa, India and Zimbabwe will take part in the tournament from Sept 25 to Oct 5.

The selectors dropped left-handed batsmen Vinod Kambli and Amay Khurasia, all-rounder Hrishikesh Kanitkar and mediumpacer Amit Bhandari from the team that toured Canada.

Two newcomers, 19-year-old batsman Mohammed Kaif and 24- year-old batsman and off-spinner Vijay Bharadwaj, have been included in the team. Bharadwaj was the highest run-scorer in the national championships last season.

The selectors have named left-hander Saurav Ganguly, who led India to a 2-1 victory over the West Indies in Toronto, as the vice-captain.

The squad: Ajay Jadeja (captain), Saurav Ganguly (vice-captain), Sadagoppan Ramesh, Rahul Dravid, Jacob Martin, Robin Singh, Mohammed Kaif, Mannava Prasad (wicketkeeper), Venkatesh Prasad, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Debashish Mohanty, Nikhil Chopra, Sunil Joshi and Vijay Bharadwaj.- Reuters