Sehwag to lead Rest of India in Irani Cup; Gambhir overlooked

Out-of-favour for One-Day Internationals, Virender Sehwag was named captain of Rest of India for the Airtel Irani Cup match against Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai, at the Wankhede stadium, from February 6 to 10.

Sehwag, who was dropped from India's ODI team for the recently-concluded series against England due to poor form, will lead a 14-member squad.

Senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and maverick pacer S Sreesanth are also in the line-up.

A significant development was that of out-of-form opener Gautam Gambhir not being named in any of the squads.

Gambhir's form has been shoddy of late and thus won't get a longer version game before the squad for the first Test against Australia is selected.

Zaheer Khan and Umesh Yadav were not considered as they are yet to submit fitness certificates.

Manoj Tiwary, who completed a rehabilitation process, was included in the Rest of India as well as India 'A' squad that will take on Australia.

According to the team announced by the All-India Senior Selection Committee at Bengaluru on Tuesday, the Rest of India side comprises six batsmen, six bowlers, one all-rounder in Jalaj Saxena and a wicketkeeper in Wriddhiman Saha.

Apart from the Rest of India squad, the selectors also handpicked a Board President's XI and India ‘A’ team for practices matches against the visiting Australia.

Left-handed Tamil Nadu opener Abhinav Mukund will lead the Board President's XI against Australia in a two-day game at Chennai on February 12-13.

Punjab opener Jiwanjot Singh, who scored five centuries was included in the India 'A' squad.

Promising Jammu and Kashmir all-rounder Parveez Rasool was again rewarded for his splendid performance in this season's Ranji Trophy by inclusion in the Board President's squad for the warm-up game against Australia.

The 23-year-old Rasool, earlier this month, became the first player from Jammu and Kshmir to make it to the national side; he was named in the India ‘A’ squad for the warm-up game against England.

Meanwhile, the India ‘A’ team to take on Australia in a three-day match in Chennai from February 16 to 18 will be captained by Delhi left-hander Shikhar Dhawan.

Teams:

Rest of India: Virender Sehwag (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Manoj Tiwary, Suresh Raina, Wriddhiman Saha, Harbhajan Singh, S Sreesanth, Pragyan Ojha, Ishwar Pandey, Abhimanyu Mithun, Ambati Rayudu, Shami Ahmed, Jalaj Saxena.

Board President's XI: Abhinav Mukund (captain), Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, Mandeep Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Parthiv Patel, Stuart Binny, Sarabjit Ladda, Parveez Rasool, Mohammed Shami, Parvinder Awana, Kamlesh Makwana.

India 'A': Shikhar Dhawan (captain), Jiwanjot Singh, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Ajinkya Rahane, CM Gautam, Rakesh Dhruv, Jalaj Saxena, Manpreet Gony, Vinay Kumar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Ashok Menaria.