Shamik Chakrabarty, Mumbai
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are not part of the India A squad that will play three unofficial ODIs against Australia A in September and October. This means that if the two senior batsmen are picked for the official ODI series in Australia next month, they would go there undercooked. Both haven’t played any competitive cricket since the IPL.
Rajat Patidar will lead India A in the first one-day match, while Tilak Varma will captain the side in the next two games after returning from the Asia Cup. The team composition suggests the selectors wanted to focus mainly on young, upcoming players, which has usually been the case for ‘A’ fixtures.
This time, though, the context is a little different. Rohit and Kohli are now one-format players, having retired from Tests and T20Is. Both have been training individually, but if they are selected for the three-match ODI series Down Under – to be played in Perth, Adelaide and Sydney on October 19, 23 and 25 – they would arrive without any proper game time. The India A matches could have been an opportunity to gain some match practice.
Meanwhile, the one-dayers against Australia A will be played in Kanpur on September 30, October 3 and 5.
India A squad for the 1st one-day match: Rajat Patidar (Captain), Prabhsimran Singh (WK), Riyan Parag, Ayush Badoni, Suryansh Shedge, Vipraj Nigam, Nishant Sindhu, Gurjapneet Singh, Yudhvir Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Abhishek Porel (WK), Priyansh Arya, Simarjeet Singh.
India A squad for 2nd and 3rd one-day matches: Tilak Varma (Captain), Rajat Patidar (Vice-Captain), Abhishek Sharma, Prabhsimran Singh (WK), Riyan Parag, Ayush Badoni, Suryansh Shedge, Vipraj Nigam, Nishant Sindhu, Gurjapneet Singh, Yudhvir Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Abhishek Porel (WK), Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh.
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