Injury to key players mean that the N K P Salve Challenger Trophy will begin today without much star power.

Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma are some of the prominent names that will be missing during the 50-overs cricket tournament.

Dravid will be seen donning the colours of Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sehwag and Gambhir will represent Delhi Daredevils, and Rohit Sharma will be on duty for IPL-II winners Deccan Chargers in the inaugural Champions League, also starting tomorrow.

Yuvraj and Irfan are out of the tournament due to injuries, while Tendulkar has opted for rest prior to the seven-match ODI series against Australia.

Maharashtra's Ameya Shrikhande will replace Yuvraj, who was also India Red team skipper which will be now led by Tamil Nadu batsman S Badrinath, and Vikramjeet Malik has been named as a replacement for India Green's Irfan Pathan.

Tamil Nadu opener Abhinav Mukund, fresh from his century in the Irani Cup for Rest of India against Mumbai, has been rewarded with a place in the India Blue side, as a replacement for Sachin Tendulkar.

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Saurabh Tiwary will replace India Green's Manoj Tiwari, who has been summoned by Delhi Daredevils.

However, the tournament will provide a great opportunity for players like Yusuf Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Laxmipathy Balaji to run into some form.

Besides, experienced seamers Munaf Patel and Sreesanth, who have been out of the national team following injuries, would be able to prove their fitness yet again after a good outing in the Irani Cup match against Mumbai.

The presence of national selectors Surendra Bhave (India Red), Narendra Hirwani (India Green) and Raja Venkat (India Blue) as the managers of the three teams means that fringe players Murli Vijay, Tanmay Srivastava, Ravindra Jadeja, Badrinath, Dhawal Kulkarni have another chance to impress ahead of the series against Australia.

A good news is that the weather, which had played spoilsport during the Irani Cup match, has improved dramatically allowing groundsmen to prepare the wicket.

Teams:

India Red: Badrinath S (Capt.), M Vijay, Sunny Sohail, Shikar Dhawan, Ishant Jaggi, Ravindra Jadeja,

Bhuvanesh Kumar, Wriddiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Sudeep Tyagi, Munaf Patel, A Shrikande, Ishant Sharma, H Khadiwale. Manager: Surendra Bhave.

India Green: Suresh Raina (Capt.), A Rahane, Tanmay Srivastava, Ravi Inder Singh, S Aniruda, S S Tiwary, Chetanya Nanda, V S Malik, Partiv Patel (wk), S K Jakati, L Balaji, Dhawal Kulkarni, Pankaj Singh, Uday Kaul. Manager: Narendra Hirwani.