England to face India's pace hopefuls

Vikram Rajvir Singh and Munaf Patel, considered to be among the quickest bowlers in India, have been picked for the Board President's XI to play England in a three-day tour match in Baroda from Feb. 23.

England arrive in India on Feb. 13 for three Tests and seven one-dayers and open their two-month tour with a three-day warm-up match in Mumbai from Feb. 18.

India's national selectors also picked openers Gautam Gambhir and Wasim Jaffer for the Baroda match, which is the opening first-class match of the tour.

Both toured Pakistan last month without playing in any of the three Tests. "We need to solve the problem of openers," said chairman of selectors Kiran More.

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Vikram, a 21-year-old uncapped paceman from Punjab, was picked for the home one-day series against Sri Lanka last year but was forced to opt out due to an ankle injury.

The first Test begins in Nagpur on March 1.

Board President's XI team: Venugopala Rao (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Subramaniam Badrinath, Wasim Jaffer, Suresh Raina, K. Dinesh Kaarthick, Dheeraj Jadhav, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Ramesh Powar, Shib Shankar Paul, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Vikram Rajvir Singh.