Former India medium-pacer Venkatesh Prasad has been named the captain of a 15-man South Zone squad for the Deodhar Trophy starting on January 2, 2003.

Among the other notable inclusions in the squad for the 13-day tournament are the precocious 17-year-old Hyderabadi batsman Ambati Rayudu and Karnataka wicketkeeper Thilak Naidu.

The squad: BKV Prasad (captain), HK Badani, Vijay Bharadwaj, AT Rayudu, S Sharath, Y Venugopal Rao, D Vinay Kumar, N Arjun Yadav, VST Naidu (wicketkeeper), L Balaji, S Oasis, D Ganesh, Sandip Dahad, S Sriram, Barrington Rowland

Stand Byes: KS Fiaz Ahmed, Chandershekar Reddy, SK Nair, T Suman, KKD Karthik (wicketkeeper), S Jakati

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