Pankaj Singh to lead Rajasthan XI

Pankaj Singh has been appointed captain of Rajasthan XI for the Central Zone one-day league, which will be played in Noida from November 7.

The pace bowler, who made his Test debut in England in July, will lead his domestic side for the first time in his career. Veteran opening batsman Vineet Saxena was excluded from the squad as the selectors preferred to give youngsters a go in the one-dayers.

The court-appointed selectors finalised the 15-member squad after watching the Challengers Trophy, a selection tournament in Jaipur. The probables were divided into four teams which played against each other from October 18 to 20.

Amit Asawa, who was the Rajasthan coach during the team's maiden Ranji Trophy triumph in 2010-11, will be the coach. He will take charge during the their week-long camp in Jaipur after Diwali.

Rajasthan XI squad Pankaj Singh (captain), Ashok Menaria (vice-captain), Robin Bist, Puneet Yadav, Rajesh Bishnoi (sr), Arjit Gupta, Dishant Yagnik, Deepak Chahar, Shailendra Gehlot, Manjeet Choudhary, Rajesh Bishnoi (jr), Madhur Khatri, Surya Prakash Suvalka, Ankit Lamba, Pranay Sharma