India 'A' squad named for four-day games against South Africa 'A'
What's the story
A 16-member India 'A' squad has been named by the All-India Senior Selection Committee on June 23, Monday. The selected team will play in the two four-day games against South Africa 'A'. The side slated to be led by Shreyas Iyer will feature the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal, who will be away from national duty as India plays in Test matches against England.
In case you didn't know
Chahal, who has emerged as one of India's premium bowlers in recent times, has seen his career restricted to limited overs, where he has excelled. With India now playing in Test matches for a period of more than one month, Chahal has been ruled out of national duty and would hence been keen to take part in the India 'A' side.
The India 'A' team, meanwhile is coming fresh from harrowing losses against the England Lions and would be looking to clean off their wounds with wins against the South African 'A' side. The team is relatively stronger and that, coupled with the advantage of playing at home should help the Indians a great deal.
The details
The team has not changed much from its most recent outing against the England Lions that concluded last week. Karun Nair and Rishabh Pant, mainstays in the India 'A' team, have been picked for selection in the senior national squad that will play the five Test matches against England. Therefore, barring the absence of the two batsmen, the new India 'A' squad is more or less the same with as many as thirteen players holding on to their spots.
Captain Shreyas Iyer, Chahal, and left-arm spinner Axar Patel are new additions to the squad. Axar will feature only in the first game of the series and will be replaced by Shahbaz Nadeem in the second. Apart from Karun Nair and Rishabh, batsman Vijay Shankar has been excluded from the squad owing to his commitments with the Chepauk Super Gillies in the ongoing 2018 edition of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL).
The two four-day match games against South Africa 'A' will be succeeded by a quadrangular series that involves Australia 'A' as well. Squads for the same have also been named. Shreyas Iyer will continue as captain of the India 'A' side in the quadrangular series. The fourth team of the setup will be the India B side.
The India B side will be captained by Manish Pandey and will feature the likes of Shivam Mavi, Shubhman Gill, Sanju Samson, and Mayank Markande, owing to their commendable stints in the under-19 World Cup and the IPL that followed.
The squads are as follows:
India 'A' squad for four-day games against South Africa A:
Shreyas Iyer (captain), Prithvi Shaw, R Samarth, Mayank Agarwal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Hanuma Vihari, Ankit Bawne, K.S. Bharat (wicketkeeper), Axar Patel (1st four-day game)/S. Nadeem (2nd four-day game), Yuzvendra Chahal, Jayant Yadav, Rajneesh Gurbani, Navdeep Saini, Ankit Rajpoot, Mohammed Siraj.
Squads for quadrangular series:
India 'A': Shreyas Iyer (captain), Prithvi Shaw, R Samarth, Suryakumar Yadav, Hanuma Vihari, Nitish Rana, Siddhesh Lad, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Mayank Markande, K. Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Siraj, Shivam Mavi, Khaleel Ahmed.
India 'B': Manish Pandey (c), Mayank Agarwal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubhman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Ricky Bhui, Vijay Shankar, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Shreyas Gopal, Jayant Yadav, D.A. Jadeja, Siddarth Kaul, Prasidh Krishna, Kulwant Khejroliya, Navdeep Saini.
What's next
The first four-day game against South Africa A will be played from August 4 in Belgaum, Karnataka while the second game, which starts on August 10, will be held in Bengaluru. The quadrangular series that follows begins on August 17 and ends on August 29, with all matches to be played in Vijayawada, Telangana.