Parthiv to lead Indian side to Australia

Parthiv Patel, the former Indian wicketkeeper, will lead an Indian side to tour Australia for the Emerging Players Tournament, to be held from July 14 while Jaydev Shah, who led Saurashtra to the Ranji one-day title, will captain another second-string side to Israel.

The bulk of both the teams comprise players who caught the eye during the Indian Premier League. Chennai's S Badrinath will be Parthiv's deputy in a side that contains Shikhar Dhawan, Abhishek Nayar and Manpreet Gony - all high on the IPL charts.

Consistent domestic performances have also been rewarded. Mohnish Parmar, the offspinner from Gujarat, and Rakesh Dhruv, the left-arm spinner from Saurashtra, will travel to Israel. Amit Mishra had a good time in the IPL but he was already in the reckoning after a prolific season for Haryana in the Ranji Trophy.

However, a few consistent domestic performers missed out - Aakash Chopra and Niraj Patel had a fine run with the bat while Sudeep Tyagi and Ashraf Makda missed out despite sterling efforts with the ball. Tyagi, though, might have been ignored because of an injury.

Squad for Israel Jaydev Shah (capt), Swapnil Asnodkar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravi Teja, M Vijay, Wriddhiman Saha, Rajat Bhatia, Yogesh Takawale (wk), Rakesh Dhruv, Mohnish Parmar, Vishal Bhatia, Basant Mohanty, Pradeep Sangwan, Ashok Dinda, R Vinay Kumar

Squad for Australia Parthiv Patel (capt), S Badrinath (vice-capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Manoj Tiwary, Abhishek Nayar, Virat Kohli, Amit Mishra, Pankaj Singh, Manpreet Gony, Siddharth Trivedi, Dhawal Kulkarni, Iqbal Abdulla, Ravinder Jadeja, Pinal Shah.