Sehwag to captain Rest of India in Irani Cup

Virender Sehwag has been named captain of the Rest of India squad that will take on Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai in the Irani Cup match to be played from February 6 to 10 at the Wankhede Stadium. Sreesanth, who picked up 10 wickets from four matches in the Ranji Trophy, and Harbhajan Singh, who took 16 wickets from five matches, were also in the squad.

The team included Manoj Tiway, who recovered from a side strain, and openers Shikhar Dhawan and M Vijay, who were named ahead of Jiwanjot Singh, the leading run-scorer this Ranji season.

Ishwar Pandey, the highest wicket-taker of the Ranji season, was rewarded for his performances with a call-up. Suresh Raina and Shami Ahmed, who played in the ODI series against England, were also named in the squad. However, MS Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir were not included. A missing name was that of Punjab seamer Siddarth Kaul, the second-highest wicket taker of the season.

Abhinav Mukund was named captain for the first warm-up match Australia will play before the four-Test series begins in Chennai on February 22. The Board President's XI will play a two-day game against Australia in Chennai on February 12 and 13. The squad also included Robin Uthappa, Parthiv Patel, Shami Ahmed and Parvinder Awana.

Australia will play their second warm-up fixture from February 16 to 18 in Chennai against India A, which will be captained by Shikhar Dhawan. The A squad included Rohit Sharma, Tiwary, Ajinkya Rahane, Vinay Kumar. Jiwanjot, who scored 995 runs in 10 matches, was also named in the squad.

Rest of India: Virender Sehwag (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, M 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 (capt), Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, Mandeep Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Parthiv Patel, Stuart Binny, Sarabjit Ladda, Parvez Rassol, Shami Ahmed, Parvinder Awana, Kamlesh Makwana.

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