Punjab left-hander Dinesh Mongia will lead North Zone in the inter-zonal Duleep Trophy tournament starting on October 20.

The zonal selection committee, which met at the PCA stadium in Mohali on Friday, also included Test opener Gautam Gambhir [Images] and bowlers Joginder Sharma and Amit Bhandari in the squad, North Zone convener Sunil Dev said in a press release in New Delhi on Saturday.

North Zone will play its first match against East Zone at Rajkot from October 20 to 23.

North Zone would be depleted in the absence of some big players like Virender Sehwag [Images] and Yuvraj Singh [Images], who would be doing national duty against Sri Lanka [Images] in a series of five one-day matches starting on October 25.

Squad: Dinesh Mongia (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Ravneet Ricky, Shikhar Dhawan, Yashpal Singh, Sangram Singh, Pankaj Dharmani, M S Bisla, Gagandeep Singh, Amit Bhandari, Joginder Sharma, V R V Singh, Amit Mishra, Sarandeep Singh, Vishal Bhatia.