Rishabh Pant has been ruled out of the first two multi-day matches of the upcoming India A tour of New Zealand, with Kumar Kushagra officially named as his replacement.

The wicketkeeper-batter sustained a left-side strain while leading the Rest of India team in the Irani Cup and his availability for the third match will be decided later.

“Rishabh Pant, whose availability for the India A tour of New Zealand was subject to fitness, has been ruled out of the first two matches. The wicketkeeper-batter had sustained a left side strain while leading Rest of India in the Irani Cup. He remains under the care of the BCCI Medical Team and is recovering well. A decision on his availability for the third match will be taken at a later stage.

“The Men’s Selection Committee has named Kumar Kushagra as Pant’s replacement for the first two matches,” the BCCI said in a release.

The three multi-day matches from October 24 to November 10 will be played across Lincoln and Christchurch.

The India A squad features Dhruv Jurel as captain while other Test regulars like Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, and Washington Sundar are also part of the squad.

The shadow tour will help players adjust to conditions ahead of senior international assignments. India are scheduled to play two Tests in their upcoming all-format tour of New Zealand.

India A’s updated squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Ravichandran Smaran, Dhruv Jurel [C] [WK], Washington Sundar, Auqib Nabi, Akash Deep, Anshul Kamboj, Manav Suthar, Mukesh Choudhary, Sai Sudharsan, Yash Rathod, Mukesh Kumar, Kumar Kushagra [WK] (1st and 2nd matches).