Left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan received a major boost to his hopes of returning to the Indian team on Friday when he was named in the 14-member squad for the four-day practice match ahead of the Test series against Australia next month.
Zaheer, who proved his fitness and form with a three-wicket haul for Rest of India in Mumbai's first innings in the Irani Cup in Mohali, was included in the Seniors' team that will take on an India 'A' team at Bangalore from September 28 to October 1.
The selectors have also picked three wicketkeepers -- Parthiv Patel, Dinesh Karthik and Mahendra Singh Dhoni -- for the match.
While Patel and Karthik figure in the Seniors' team to be led by Sourav Ganguly, Dhoni was named in the 'A' team to be skippered by Dinesh Mongia.
Akash Chopra will get a chance to regain his Test opening spot when he walks out with Virender Sehwag while Gautam Gambhir (Delhi) and Dheeraj Yadav (Mumbai) form the 'A' team's opening combination.
Mohammad Kaif finds an opportunity to stake his claims for a Test slot while Hemang Badani failed to make the cut.
India Seniors: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Akash Chopra, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, V V S Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Parthiv Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Dinesh Karthik, Ambati Rayudu, Siddharth Trivedi.
India 'A': Dinesh Mongia (capt), Dheeraj Jadhav, Gautam Gambhir, Mohammad Kaif, Sridharan Sriram, M S Dhoni, S S Paul, Murali Karthik, Amit Bhandari, Ashish Nehra, Joginder Sharma, Sarandeep Singh, Kiran Powar, Y Venugopala Rao.
