India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni preferred to sit out of the three-day match against Somerset, and in his absence Gautam Gambhir is leading the side.

Another notable absentee is VVS Laxman, but pace spearhead Zaheeer Khan is playing and his clash with Andrew Strauss is eagerly anticipated.

The India-England Test series starts July 21 at Lord's.

Somerset won the toss and elected to bat.

Teams:

Indians: Gautam Gambhir (c), Abhinav Mukund, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Wriddhiman Saha, Zaheer Khan, Amit Mishra, S Sreesanth, Munaf Patel.

Somerset: Andrew Strauss, AV Suppiah, NRD Compton, CR Jones, JC Hildreth, JC Buttler†, PD Trego, CAJ Meschede, AC Thomas, MTC Waller, CM Willoughby.