Rishabh Pant is all set to feature in the two one-dayers for India ‘A’ against England Lions at home, starting on January 23. Ajinkya Rahane has been shouldered with the responsibility to lead the India ‘A’ side in the first three games.
On Saturday (January 19), the BCCI senior selection committee announced India 'A' squad for the five one-dayers against the Lions.
Pant, who made his ODI debut against the touring West Indies side in October last year, isn’t part of India’s 50-over squad for the twin series against Australia and New Zealand. However, the southpaw is in the reckoning for a World Cup spot following his swashbuckling batting performances in red-ball cricket as yet.
Rishabh will play the one-dayers on January 29 and 31 before heading off to New Zealand for India’s T20I series, beginning on February 6.
Hanuma Vihari, who was a part of India’s first-ever Test series win Down Under, has also been named in the India ‘A’ side along with Shreyas Iyer and Shardul Thakur. Maharashtra batsman Ankit Bawne will captain India ‘A’ in the last two games and has also been included in the BP XI squad, which will take on England Lions in a warm-up match on January 20.
The five-match one-day series will take place at Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram, beginning January 23. The two four-day games will be held in Wayanad from February 7.
India A squad for 1st, 2nd & 3rd one-dayers: Ajinkya Rahane (C), Anmolpreet Singh, Rituraj Gaekwad, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Ankit Bawne, Ishan Kishan (WK), Krunal Pandya, Axar Patel, Mayank Markande, Jayant Yadav, Siddarth Kaul, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini.
India A squad for 4th & 5th one-dayers: Ankit Bawne (C), Rituraj Gaekwad, Anmolpreet Singh, Ricky Bhui, Siddhesh Lad, Himmat Singh, Rishabh Pant (WK), Deepak Hooda, Axar Patel, Rahul Chahar, Jayant Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Avesh Khan, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur.
BP XI for two-day warm-up games: Ishan Kishan (C & WK), Akshath Reddy, Dhruv Shorey, Ricky Bhui, Siddhesh Lad, Rinku Singh, Priyam Garg, Saurabh Kumar, Rahul Chahar, Jayant Yadav, Aniket Choudhary, Ankit Rajpoot, Rajesh Mohanty.
(With PTI inputs)
