Punjab batsman Dinesh Mongia will lead the 14-member Rest of India team against Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai in the Irani Cup match at Mohali, from September 22 to 26.

Making the announcement at a press conference in Chennai, BCCI secretary S K Nair said, "The team has been picked giving weightage to performance by India 'A' players in the recently-concluded tours of Zimbabwe and Kenya."

India wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel and left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan were also named in the squad.

Missing from the squad is Hemang Badani.

Speaking about his omission, Nair said, "Badani has not given documentary evidence of having recovered from his injury, while the selectors perused the certificates submitted by Akash Chopra."

He said Parthiv Patel was picked although M S Dhoni, a wicket-keeper batsman from Bihar, has equal credentials, because the committee wanted to assess Patel in a five-day game before the Indian team to play Australia in the four-Test series at home later this year is selected.

Zaheer Khan found a place in the team as the selectors wanted to assess his fitness level in a five-day match situation, keeping both the Test series against Australia and South Africa in mind.

As for paceman Lakshmipathy Balaji, who is due to return home from England because of an abdominal strain, Nair said he would have to undergo rehabilitation for his injury and will require about two weeks' time to fully recover from it.

Nair said Amit Bhandari, who will be replacing Balaji in the Indian squad for the Champions Trophy, is already on his way to England.

"Hopefully, Balaji will be available for the Test matches against Australia. The Board would conduct periodical assessment on him," he said.

On the contempt petition – relating to Jagmohan Dalmiya's appointment as Board's patron-in-chief -- filed in a Bhopal court, Nair said, "We have decided not to make any comment on the subject."

The team:

Rest Of India: Dinesh Mongia (capt), S Sriram (vice-captain, Tamil Nadu), Akash Chopra (Delhi), Gautam Ghambir (Delhi), Dhiraj Jadav (Maharashtra), A T Rayudu (Hyderabad), Parthiv Patel (Gujarat), Murali Kartik (Rlys), Shiv Shankar Paul (Bengal), Zaheer Khan (Baroda), Y A Golwalkar (M.P), Y Venugopal Rao (Andhra), Joginder Sharma (Haryana) and Sidharth Trivedi (Gujarat).