Tendulkar may miss Duleep Trophy opener

Sachin Tendulkar will miss Duleep Trophy to join the training camp © Getty Images

Sachin Tendulkar, named captain of the West Zone team for the Duleep Trophy league opener against South Zone, is unlikely to play in the tie as it coincides with the three-day camp for the Indian team to prepare for the forthcoming seven-match one-day international series against Sri Lanka. Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan, Tendulkar's West Zone team-mates, would also miss the match due to the same reason.

SK Nair, the Indian board's secretary, told PTI, "All the team members selected on October 14 for the first few ODIs against Sri Lanka should attend the camp at Bangalore from October 19-21 that has been proposed by coach Greg Chappell and agreed upon by the Indian cricket board".

Tendulkar is set to return to competitive cricket during the October 10-13 Challenger Trophy after a fourth-month post-surgery lay-off. He had another full practice session at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday along with his Mumbai Ranji Trophy mates and was seen batting with more freedom during his 25-minute stint at the nets than witnessed on the first two days. He was, however, not available for comment to mediapersons and is expected to address them on Friday after another net session before proceeding to Mohali on October 8 to play in the Challenger Trophy.

West Zone team: Sachin Tendulkar (captain), Sairaj Bahutule (vice-captain), Dheeraj Jadhav, Satyajit Parab, Wasim Jaffer, Neeraj Patel, Parthiv Patel (wicketkeeper), Ramesh Powar, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Akash Christian, Vinit Indulkar, Jaydev Shah, Rakesh Patel.