Venugopal to captain A team in Abu Dhabi

Venugopal Rao has been named captain of the 14-man India A team for the Euro-Asia Cup to be held in Abu Dhabi from April 22 to May 5.

Rao, 24, has played 11 ODIs for India and was recently seen in a tour match between the Rajasthan Cricket Association XI and an England XI. Also included in the side are Rudra Pratap Singh, the left-arm fast bowler, and Piyush Chawla, who made his Test debut against England at Mohali last month. Robin Uthappa, a promising 20-year-old batsman with Under-19 experience, has also been included in the A team. He was also called up to the national side for two ODIs against Pakistan which immediately follow the conclusion of the current England series.

The six participating teams have been divided into two groups: India, Pakistan and Holland make up Group A while Sri Lanka, Ireland and the UAE comprise Group B.

India A Venugopal Rao (capt), Robin Uthappa, Shikhar Dhawan, S Vidyut, Subramaniam Badrinath, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shib Paul, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Rudra Pratap Singh, VRV Singh, Piyush Chawla.