Mumbai: The Rest of India squad to take on Ranji Trophy champions Delhi in the September 24-28 Irani Cup tie at Vadodara will be picked on here on September 8, Indian Cricket Board sources said.

BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah has already informed that the squad, to be selected by the senior national selection panel led by Dilip Vengsarkar, would be a virtual Test side barring those who would be representing Delhi like Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Ishant Sharma.

"The selectors would be picking a virtual Test side, barring those belonging to Delhi, when selecting the Rest team," Shah had told PTI a few days ago.

The huge point of interest and, perhaps, a pointer to who would lead India in the high-profile four-Test series against Australia for the October-November Border-Gavaskar Trophy, is the choice of the captain to lead the Rest.

Already, rumblings have begun with the BCCI on Thursday censuring chief coach Gary Kirsten for commenting in the media that Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the ideal man to replace Test captain Anil Kumble who had a poor time with the ball in Sri Lanka during the three-Test series that the visitors lost 1-2.

The season-opening domestic fixture, that formerly used to be a virtual selection trial ahead of a new international season, has come back into reckoning in a big way following the poor display by the 'Fab Four' middle order batsmen in Sri Lanka, as well as Kumble who is at the fag end of his glittering career.