Fit-again Harbhajan to play in Vijay Hazare Trophy

Harbhajan Singh, who is currently not part of the Indian national team, said he has regained fitness and will play in the Vijay Hazare Trophy that starts on February 20.  Harbhajan will captain Punjab during the North Zone leg of the tournament.

The off-spinner had missed most of the Ranji Trophy season because of a shin injury. At the time in November 2011, Punjab coach Vikram Rathore had told Hindustan Times that Harbhajan will be going to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) to recover. "Harbhajan is in touch with a physio from the NCA [National Cricket Academy in Bangalore] and will possibly be going there to recover," Rathore had said.

Harbhajan said he has completed his rehabilitation programme at the NCA and is ready again to start his bid to make a comeback to the national team. "I have been bowling regularly at the NCA and haven't encountered any problems. My fight to make a comeback into the national team will start with zonal one-dayers and hopefully I will be able to perform to the best of my abilities," he told news agency PTI.

Harbhajan, who last represented India against England in the second Test at Trent Bridge in July 2011, is also open to the idea of playing county cricket if he is allowed to so by the BCCI. 

"For me, it's about performing and making a comeback to the Indian team as soon as possible. Playing county cricket is certainly not a bad idea. I can only take a call once the Indian Premier League is over but it also depends on whether the BCCI will allow me to go and play a few matches in county cricket," he said.

Meanhwile, The Telegraph reported a couple of days back that Sourav Ganguly has been named the Bengal skipper for the Vijay Hazare Trophy. The selectors said they thought Ganguly would be the perfect candidate to captain the side since they did not have proper alternatives. Regular Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary is away on national duty while Wriddhiman Saha, the vice-captain, is unwilling to take the responsibility.

“Wriddhiman said he doesn’t want to captain the side at the moment... He wants to concentrate more on his game and play freely,” Cricket Association of Bengal joint secretary Sujan Mukherjee said.