After being out of action for nearly four months due to a shoulder injury, Indian opener Virender Sehwag returned to the cricket field on Sunday at a corporate tourney in Chandigarh.
The Delhi marauder has been signed up by Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries and would be representing the corporate entity in the J P Atray tournament in progress at Chandigarh.
Sehwag sustained the injury during the Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament held in South Africa in April-May and underwent a shoulder operation. He has been out of action since then and undergoing rehabilitation.
The flashy player missed the Twenty20 World Cup in England, the ODI series in the West Indies, the triangular series in Sri Lanka and the Champions Trophy that will begin in South Africa, on Tuesday.
He has been named captain of the Rest of India squad in the five-day Irani Cup tie against Ranji Trophy champion Mumbai starting in Nagpur on October 1.
"Virender Sehwag has been signed by Reliance and would be playing his first match today for Reliance 1 in the J P Atray tournament in Chandigarh," said an official spokesperson for the team in Mumbai.
"Sehwag [who was employed earlier with ONGC] is a full time employee. We have signed up 25-odd players to form the Reliance 1 team to take part in Corporate tournaments and domestic cricket," he said.
"Sehwag would play under Parthiv Patel who is the captain. We have also signed up Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Manoj Tiwary, among others," he added.
Reliance 1 made its debut on September 17 against a Bengal team which was the first match of the tournament, the official said.
He could not say whether this was the first step towards eventually buying all these players, who are representing different franchise outfits in the IPL.
Photograph: Reuters
