The All India Senior Selection Committee, which met at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, picked a 16-member side for the tournament starting later this month Down Under.

Two other Tamil Nadu batsmen – Murali Vijay and R Ashwin – also made it to the squad, which include the Delhi duo of Kohli and Pradeep Sangwan.

Three Mumbai players -- Ajinkya Rahane, Abhishek Nayar and Dhawal Kulkarni -- made the cut as did the Uttar Pradesh pace duo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Sudeep Tyagi.

Bengal duo of Manoj Tiwary and Wriddhiman Saha, Madhya Pradesh stumper Naman Ojha, Jharkhand batsman Ishank Jaggi, Rajasthan pacer Pankaj Singh and Haryana leggie Amit Mishra are other members of the side.

Apart from India, domestic teams from New Zealand, South Africa and hosts Australia will compete in the Twenty20-cum-ODI tournament starting July 20.

India will take on AIS in a Twenty20 match on the opening day at Redlands CC in Queensland.

Indian state side Karnataka won the inaugural Emerging Players Tournament in 2005, while South Africa won it in 2006 and 2007 before New Zealand denied them a hat-trick.