Gambhir to lead Rest of India squad

Gautam Gambhir has been named the captain of the Rest of India squad to take on Railways, the Ranji champions, in the Irani Trophy to be played from October 1 to October 5 at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi. Gambhir is currently playing the first Test against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo.

Despite India not having any international assignments at that time, the selectors decided to not include the big stars and go for untested talent instead. Ramesh Powar, the offspinner from Mumbai, and Ramakrishnan Ramkumar, the left-arm spinner from Tamil Nadu, were the two spinners included. VRV Singh, the fast bowler from Punjab who had an impressive debut season, will get an opportunity to showcase his skill.

A surprise omission from the squad is Dinesh Mongia, who had led the side last year. Parthiv Patel will get another chance to prove himself with the gloves while Venugopal Rao returns to the team as the vice-captain, after a disastrous one-day series in Zimbabwe.

Rest of India squad: Gautam Gambhir (capt), Dheeraj Jadhav, Shikhar Dhawan, Robin Uthappa, Y Venugopal Rao (vice-capt), Suresh Raina, Niraj Patel, Parthiv Patel(wkt), Ramesh Powar, Ramakrishnan Ramkumar, RP Singh, Sreeshanth, Ranadeb Bose, Amit Bhandari, VRV Singh