The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Spotlight on Ajay Jadeja

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Saturday, Mar 25, 2006

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Spotlight on Ajay Jadeja

CRICKET / Solanki to lead England in practice game before ODIs

Jaipur : Much would be at stake for the teams when an RCA President's XI takes on a buoyed English side here on Saturday in the only practice game before the seven-match one-day cricket series.

The visitors, who are here without their inspirational skipper Andrew Flintoff who has gone to London to see his baby, would be keen to maintain their winning momentum while the youngsters in the home team would try hard to make an impression on the selectors ahead of the one-dayers. Flintoff will stay in the U.K. for three more days before coming back to India for the One-Day series. The first match will be played in Delhi on March 28.

The match would afford important match practice to the teams as they switch over to the shorter version of the game after the conclusion of the three-Test series, which ended in a 1-1 tie with England winning the final Test by 212 runs.

The English team, led by Vikram Solanki, had a strenuous workout in the nets on Friday morning after arriving in the Pink City on Thursday evening.

One player in the local side who would attract the spotlight would be former India player and current Rajasthan skipper Ajay Jadeja.

This would be the first outing against an international side for the flamboyant batsman, who has been playing in Ranji competitions after a five-year ban slapped on him by the BCCI for match-fixing related allegations.

Asked whether he viewed this game as a comeback vehicle to international cricket, he said ``like any other match I would give my best but I also know one match is not going to make any difference.

``I always believe in setting benchmarks and also feel age should be no criteria for pushing one out. I have no regrets as I still have fond memories of my best days. Selection is not in my hands but I will continue playing till I am able to give my best,'' the flamboyant batsman said.

Was he waiting for a comeback at least once to international cricket before calling it a day?

``I will continue to play till I have the capability. I am enjoying my game. I left Delhi because I was not enjoying there. Fortunately I was welcomed in Rajasthan and we were lucky to qualify to the Elite group.

"But despite me being the highest run getter in the season, I was left out of the zonal team. What can I say?''

The teams (from):

England: Vikram Solanki (capt.), Kabir Ali, James Anderson, Gareth Batty, Ian Bell, Ian Blackwell, Paul Collingwood, Matthew Hoggard, Geraint Jones, Sajid Mehmood, Kevin Pietersen, Liam Plunkett, Matt Prior, Owais Shah, Andrew Strauss.

RCA President's XI: Ajay Jadeja (capt.), Gautam Gambhir, Venugopala Rao, Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel, V.R.V. Singh, R.P. Singh, Ramesh Powar, Piyush Chawla, Rohit Sharma, Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan, Pankaj Singh, Sanjay Gill, Dishant Yagnik, Jaidev Shah, Vikrant Yadav, Mohammad Kaif. — PTI

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