Mongia to lead India A in warm-up match

Sourav Ganguly will lead a near-full-strength India Seniors side against an India A team captained by Dinesh Mongia in a practice match to be held in Bangalore from September 28 to October 1. Originally scheduled to be played in Pune, it was shifted to allow the players and chance to get used to the conditions in Bangalore, which hosts the first Test against Australia.

According to a report from The Telegraph in Kolkata, SK Nair, the BCCI secretary, said, "The Indian team management wanted the match in Bangalore as they felt the players too can get the feel of the wicket there."

The Indian Senior and A teams were picked by the selection panel which has convened in Mohali for the Irani Trophy match. The likes of Venugopal Rao, who scored a fine century earlier in the day, and SS Paul, who has been a consistent performer for the A team, have been included. No Mumbai players were selected as they will be playing a warm-up match against Australia at the Brabourne Stadium from September 30 to October 2.

India seniors Sourav Ganguly (capt), Parthiv Patel (wk), Aakash Chopra, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Anil Kunble, Zaheer Khan, Dinesh Karthik, Ambati Rayudu, Sidharth Trivedi.

India A Dinesh Mongia (capt), MS Dhoni (wk), Gautam Gambhir, Dheeraj Jadhav, Mohammad Kaif, Sridharan Sriram, Murali Kartik, SS Paul, Amit Bhandari, Ashish Nehra, Joginder Sharma, Sarandeep Singh, Kiran Powar, Venugopal Rao.