Australia A's tour of India huge for Test hopefuls, says Justin Langer

Australia A will play a triangular List A competiton with South Africa involved, before taking on against India A in 2 four-day games.

Australia A has regularly played in India A for a while. (AP)

According to the head coach Justin Langer, Australia A's tour to India in August will have a huge impact on the Test squad will be announced to take on against the might of Pakistan in UAE this October. Australia A will play in a one-day tri-series against India A and South Africa A in Vijayawada in August before the four-day squad heads to Vizag to face India A in two matches in September and it is the games in Vijayawada, Langer said, will be huge for the players trying to cement their place in Test side in absence of Steve Smith and David Warner. 

Langer was recently quoted saying as, "It's huge, We'll probably pick the Test team after Australia A team. It's a great opportunity, particularly for our young batsmen, or any batsman in Australia. It's very, very rare to pick a Test squad after something like that. We've got a short period (between tours) so it's going to be a huge tour" 

"It's exciting. I won't be at that tour, because from about the end of September, we're not going to go home for about 18 months. So I probably won't go to India for that tour. I'll certainly be watching it closely because we have to start building the top six in the Test team."

Also, what makes Australian Cricket focussed on an Asian A tour is their record in these conditions. Since Australia’s last series win in Asia – against Sri Lanka in 2011 – they have won just two out of 15 Test matches, were annihilated 2-0 by Pakistan in the UAE Test series in 2014 and lost their first Test to Bangladesh last year. 

Tour schedule

One-Day fixtures - Vijayawada

17 August v India A

19 August v South Africa A

23 August v India A

25 August v South Africa A

29 August – Tri-Series Final

Four-Day fixtures - Vizag

2 – 5 September v India A

8 – 11 September v India A

Australia A four-day squad:-

Mitchell Marsh (c), Alex Carey (vc), Ashton Agar, Brendan Doggett, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Jon Holland, Usman Khawaja, Michael Neser, Joel Paris, Kurtis Patterson, Matthew Renshaw, Mitch Swepson, Chris Tremain

(Inputs from Cricket.com.au)

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 28 Jun, 2018

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