The selectors on Monday put a huge question mark over the future of former India skipper Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh by leaving the left-handed duo out of the Rest of India squad for the September 24-28 Irani Cup tie against Ranji Trophy champions Delhi at Vadodara.
Ganguly had a poor Test series in Sri Lanka along with the other three senior batsmen -- Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and V V S Laxman -- while Yuvraj has been in indifferent form in the ODIs.
Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman were, however, included in the 14-man team to be led by Anil Kumble.
The outgoing Dilip Vengsarkar-led five-member committee provided a fresh lease of life to the stuttering career of Mohammed Kaif by including him for the season-opening clash touted as a virtual selection trial for the upcoming Test series against the mighty Australian squad.
A surprise inclusion was Bengal medium pacer Ashok Dinda who was impressive in the May-June Indian Premier League ,while Mumbai opener Wasim Jaffer was also given another chance to resurrect his stop-start career which seemed to be going downhill from the tour of Australia.
The selectors also named the India 'A' squad, to be led by S Badrinath, for the triangular series against Australia 'A' and New Zealand 'A' from September 15-26 in Chennai and Hyderabad.
{{/usCountry}}The selectors also named the India 'A' squad, to be led by S Badrinath, for the triangular series against Australia 'A' and New Zealand 'A' from September 15-26 in Chennai and Hyderabad.
{{/usCountry}}Irani Cup team: Anil Kumble (Capt), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V V S Laxman, Wasim Jaffer, M S Dhoni (wk), Mohd Kaif, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, R P Singh, Parthiv Patel (wk) and Ashok Dinda.