Ravindra Jadeja is all set to play for Saurashtra in their upcoming Ranji Trophy match against Delhi in Rajkot, starting January 23. The India all-rounder turned up for practice in Rajkot on Sunday, January 19 and confirmed his availability for the next round of the premier first-class domestic cricket tournament.
Jadeja's confirmation comes a day after India captain Rohit Sharma confirmed he would turn up to play for Mumbai against Jammu and Kashmir on January 23 in Mumbai.
Unlike a few other established players, Jadeja played domestic cricket as recently as last year. The all-rounder featured in a Ranji Trophy game against Tamil Nadu during the final statge of his recovery from an injury concern.
"Jadeja has turned up for training today. He will play the next match," Saurashtra Cricket Association president Jaydev Shah told PTI news agency.
Jadeja was one of India's better performers with the bat during the Australia tour. He scored 135 runs at an average of 41 in three Tests. The 36-year-old all-rounder was named in India's Champions Trophy squad, which was announced by the BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar on Saturday in Mumbai.
Star players have shown interest in playing domestic cricket after the Indian
cricket board, in its 10-point disciplinary guidelines, made it mandatory for players to play domestic cricket to be eligible for senior national team selection. The strict directives came after India lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia and failed to reach the World Test Championship final for the first time.
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill will also turn up to play for their respective domestic sides (Mumbai and Punjab) in the upcoming round of the tournament.
However, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli are set to miss the upcoming round of Ranji Trophy due to injury concerns.
Captain Rohit Sharma spoke about the BCCI rule, saying that star players were not taking domestic cricket for granted.
"Last 6-7 years if you go back and watch our calendar, there hasn't been a time where I'm sitting at home for days and there is cricket going on. You do get that time when you finish IPL and there's nothing happening right after that, but if you see our domestic season, it starts in September and it gets over by February, March, and that is the time India plays a lot of cricket as well,” Rohit said on Sunday.
Jadeja will next be seen in international cricket action during the ODI series against England, starting February 6.