Shot in the arm for Harbhajan Singh

It's a much-needed boost for Harbhajan Singh. The senior offspinner, who has been ignored from the Indian team of late, has been named the captain of Rest of India that will play Karnataka in the Irani Trophy match starting on February 9.
R Ashwin, currently the No. 1 spinner, has been struggling in overseas conditions and was dropped from the second Test team that played in South Africa late December.His performances in the ODIs in New Zealand too left a lot to be desired and there has been criticism about his bowling.
Even legend Erapalli Prasanna said Harbhajan is a better choice in ODIs than Ashwin. In a situation like this, Harbhajan's inclusion in the Rest of India team is a shot in the arm for the feisty sardar. It will be a match keenly followed by the selectors and if Harbhajan does well, he can come right back into reckoning for an India berth. Leggie Amit Mishra, too, is in the squad and it's certain that the two will lead the RoI spin attack. Parvez Rasool, the third spinner in the 15, is likely to miss out.
Test discard Gautam Gambhir, too, has been included in the squad. Shikhar Dhawan's recent struggle on bouncy tracks hasn't gone unnoticed and Gambhir would do well to score big and stake a claim for himself.
Rest of India squad: Harbhajan Singh (Captain), Jiwanjyot Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Baba Aparajith, Kedar Jadhav, Ankit Bawne, Dinesh Kartik, Amit Mishra, Pankaj Singh, Ashoke Dinda, Varun Aaron, Parvez Rasool, Anureet Singh, Natraj Behera, Mandeep Singh