A star-studded Rest of India team will take on Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai in the five-day Irani Trophy cricket match to be played here from Saturday.

Considering 37-time Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai as a tough side, Rest of India captain Mohammed Kaif said: “This is a good batting track, which might be helping spinners later. But we need good start to put big scores.”

Rest of India has plenty of depth in the batting and bowling departments as they have Akash Chopra, S Badrinath and Kaif himself to share the batting responsibility. However,  Mumbai captain Amol Muzumdar said his team had some new faces and it would be their strength. “We know how Kaif and Badrinath batted and how Munaf bowls. But our opponents have no idea about our style, which will help us in the game,” he  said.