The selection committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India met in Chennai on Sunday and picked the teams for the two side games against New Zealand, starting September 26, at Vizag, and October 2 at Rajkot, respectively.
Players who have been selected for the Emerging India team that will tour Sri Lanka have not been considered for the tour games.
BCCI secretary S K Nair announced the team even as the Irani Trophy match between Mumbai and Rest of India was nearing its end.
"The selectors have decided to give chances to a lot of players as they have had a long off-season. They [the selectors] will also be looking at the players keeping in mind the tri-nation one-day series that will follow," said Nair.
"V V S Laxman has been out of the game due to injury for a long time, so the selectors are giving him a chance to recover his best form before the Test matches against New Zealand," added Nair.
Delhi opener Akash Chopra, who has been touted as a future India opener and missed both the India 'A' tour of England and the Challenger series due to injury, is the only player to figure in both teams.
F
ast bowler Munaf Patel, who impressed at the just-concluded camp in Bangalore, will also have a chance to test his mettle against an international side as will R P Singh and Amit Uniyal.The selectors will be keeping an eye on the openers playing in the games, and Sadagoppan Ramesh, the forgotten man of Indian cricket, will have a chance of impressing them in the Rajkot match.
The Board President's 14-member team:
1. Virender Sehwag (Captain)
2. Akash Chopra
3. Shiv Sundar Das
4. V V S Laxman
5. Yuvraj Singh
6. S Sriram
7. Ajay Ratra
8. Amit Mishra
9 Ramesh Powar
10 Amit Bhandari
11 Tinu Yohanan
12 Wasim Jaffer
13 Siddarth Trivedi
14 Amit Uniyal
India 'A' team:
1. Mohd. Kaif (Captain)
2. S Ramesh
3. Akash Chopra
4. Rohan Gavaskar
5. Connor Williams
6. Hemang Badani
7. Deep Dasgupta
8. Murali Kartik
9. Sarandeep Singh
10. Sreesanth
11. Munaf Patel
12. Mithun Manas
13. Abhijit Kale
14. R P Singh
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