Praveen Kumar and Irfan Pathan out of India A squad due to injuries

Irfan Pathan: Injured again

Indian medium pacer Praveen Kumar and all-rounder Irfan Pathan have been ruled out of the limited-overs tour games, against the visiting West Indies A next week, due to injuries. The Indian selection committee has named the veteran pacer Vinay Kumar and young Punjab all-rounder Siddhart Kaul as their replacements.

“PK and Irfan ruled out of the India A team for the one-day games vs WI ‘A’, due to injuries. Replacements are Siddharth Kaul and Vinay Kumar,” Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) tweeted.

Irfan Pathan’s career has been inflicted with several injuries and the talented all-rounder’s hope of making it back to the Indian team suffered yet another blow as he is now sidelined with yet another injury. He last featured for India in the series against Sri Lanka last year and then was in the squad for the 2013 edition of the Champions Trophy.

Praveen Kumar, however, has had a troubled season. First, he was suspended after disciplinary issues in the Corporate Trophy in February and now has been ruled out for the tour games. He last played competitive cricket during the sixth edition of the IPL, back in April 2013.

Both Irfan and Praveen Kumar were picked for the India A squad for the three one-dayers and one Twenty20 against West Indies A. However, neither of them found a place in the squads for the four-day games.

The first one-dayer against Windies A will be played in Bangalore, on Sunday.

There has been one more change done to the squad for the second and third four-day games. The selectors have included the in- form Kerala batsman, VA Jagadeesh.