India discard Harbhajan Singh may be nowhere close to selection compared to the rest of his North Zone teammates, but he was today named the captain of the side for the Syed Mushtaq Ali inter-zonal T20 tournament.
The team comprises of players like Yuvraj Singh and Ashish Nehra – the former making an excellent comeback and the latter starring in the T20 series against England. Harbhajan is, however, the senior-most member of the side.
The tournament will be held in Mumbai from February 12-16. The 15-member squad comprise of other India players such as Shikhar Dhawan and out-of-favour Gautam Gambhir, alongside Rishabh Pant.
The decision was taken at a meeting of North Zone Selection Committee held at Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) under the chairmanship of Nikhil Chopra. The selectors from North Zone Associations Ashender Kaul (JKCA), Rajesh Bawa (HCA), Ashok Thakur (HPCA), Wg. Cdr Deepak Ahluwalia (SSCB), Sarandeep Singh, who was a Special Invitee and Siddharth Sahib Singh, the Convenor attended the meeting.
North Zone will take on South Zone in their first match on February 12th at CCI, Mumbai.
The North Zone squad: Harbhajan Singh (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Mandeep Singh, Rishabh Pant/Unmukt Chand (wk), AR Pachera, Rishi Dhawan, Mayank Dagar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Parvez Rasool, Umar Nazir, Pradeep Sangwan, Mohit Sharma, Ashish Nehra.
Standbyes: Shivam Chauhan, Shubham Khajuria, Manpreet Gony, Manzoor Dar, Manan Sharma, Milind Kumar.
Support Staff: Badrinath Prathi (Physio), Nishanta Bordoloi (Trainer).
Manager/Coach is yet to be appointed by DDCA.
