Ajinkya Rahane to lead Rest of India; KL Rahul named India A captain against England Lions for 2nd unofficial Test

New Delhi, Feb 7: Ajinkya Rahane has been named the captain of the Rest of India side that will lock horns with the Ranji Trophy champions Vidarbha in the Irani Cup, starting February 12.

Defending champions Vidarbha retained the title as they defeated Saurashtra by 78 runs in the final at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur on Thursday (February 7). With Vidarbha lifting the title for the second consecutive time, the venue was decided. The Irani Cup is played at the home ground of Ranji Trophy winning side, hence this year it will be played at the VCA Stadium.

Vidarbha defend Ranji Trophy title

The BCCI on Thursday announced the Rest of India squad for the Irani Cup.

Rest of India Squad: Ajinkya Rahane (C), Mayank Agarwal, Anmolpreet Singh, Hanuman Vihari, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wk), Krishnappa Gowtham, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ankit Rajpoot, Tanveer Ul-Haq, Ronit More, Sandeep Warrier, Rinku Singh, Snell Patel.

Meanwhile, the BCCI also announced the squad for the 2nd four-day game between India A and England Lions. India cricketer KL Rahul was named the captain of the squad. Rahul has replaced Ankit Bawne as the skipper. There is only one change to the side with Karun Nair replacing pacer Avesh Khan.

India A squad for 2nd four-day game against England Lions:
KL Rahul (Captain), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Priyank Panchal, Ankit Bawne, Karun Nair, Ricky Bhui, Siddhesh Lad, KS Bharat (wk), Shahbaz Nadeem, Jalaj Saxena, Mayank Markande, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini, Varun Aaron.