Rohit to lead Board President's XI against Sri Lanka

Rohit Sharma will captain the Board President's XI against the visiting Sri Lankans in a three-day tour opener to be played in Mumbai from November 11 to 13. The 14-man squad, announced by the selectors in Nagpur today, also includes Robin Uthappa who was named vice-captain after an impressive showing in the Champions League Twenty20.

"We have made a conscious decision to make sure that we have given lot of opportunities to everybody; lot of new faces, new comers, and some cricketers who have been around but are now out, to redeem themselves," Kris Srikkanth, India's chairman of selectors, said. "We are trying to get new faces. People who we have seen or are absolute certainties, we didn't want to pick. We wanted everybody to prove themselves, that's the idea of the Board President's XI."

Rohit was dropped from India's one-day squad for the tri-series in Sri Lanka and the Champions Trophy in South Africa. He was in indifferent form during the one-day series in the West Indies in June-July, scoring just 15 runs in four matches. Rohit, Uthappa, Piyush Chawla, and Pragyan Ojha are among the ones who need to "redeem themselves".

Apart from Rohit and Uthappa, two consistent performers in domestic cricket, Abhinav Mukund and Ajinkya Rahane, make the core of the batting order alongside Manoj Tiwary. Abhishek Nayar, discarded from India's ODI team, comes in as the allrounder. The spin of Chawla and Ojha is backed up by the pace of Dhawal Kulkarni, Ashok Dinda, Pradeep Sangwan and Pankaj Singh.

Board President's XI: Rohit Sharma (capt), Robin Uthappa, Abhinav Mukund, Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Piyush Chawla, Pragyan Ojha, Pradeep Sangwan, Dhawal Kulkarni, Ashok Dinda, Pankaj Singh, Abhishek Nayar, Ishank Jaggi.