Sanath signs up for S African side

DURBAN: Sri Lankan master batsman Sanath Jayasuriya will be playing for South African provincial side Dolphins in the new season that starts next month, but will not be in action in India with Dolphins for the T20 Champions Challenge in December.

Jayasuriya is already committed to the Mumbai Indians for the Indian Premiere League (IPL).

"We are very excited to have acquired the services of a player of Sanath's calibre," Dolphins chief executive Cassim Dockrat said here.

"He means a lot to us," Dockrat added.

He said that negotiations with Jayasuriya to play for the Kwazulu-Natal side had been going on for four months already.

"Sanath will arrive in South Africa in the first week of November and will start playing (for Dolphins) in the one-day series that starts in mid-November, as well as in the (local) Twenty20 series."

Dockrat said the Dolphins would play in December in the Champions Challenge in Mumbai. IPL champions Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings, Australian domestic T20 sides West Australia and Victoria, Sialkot of Pakistan and England's Middlesex will compete in the tournament.