Gaikwad likely to captain India A, Ishan Kishan expected to return on Australia tour

Ruturaj Gaikwad Photo courtesy: The Hindu

According to a report, Ruturaj Gaikwad could lead the India A team against Australia A in two four-day first-class games starting later this month. espncricinfo,

All eyes will be on India A’s top-order batsmen, with Gaikwad expected to include Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sai Sudarshan.

Captain Rohit Sharma is expected to miss one of the first two Test matches of the much-awaited Border Gavaskar Trophy starting next month in Australia, leaving India looking for a reserve opener, reports have revealed.

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Easwaran will be one of the talking points during the two matches. He has enjoyed purple glory on the back of his excellent form. He scored two centuries in the Duleep Trophy and followed this with another century in the Irani Cup.

Along with scoring a double century for Tamil Nadu in the ongoing Ranji Trophy match in Delhi, he continued to score centuries with his bat.

The two first-class matches against Australia A can be considered an audition for the players to prove their worth and earn a place in the Indian team for the five Test matches.

Devdutt Padikkal, Baba Inderjit and Ricky Bhui are likely to provide strong batting in the middle order in the India A team.

Ishan Kishan may return to the international team for the first time after being left out of the central contract. The young left-hander was dropped from the list along with Shreyas Iyer after concerns emerged that he had prioritized the Indian Premier League (IPL) over domestic cricket.

He is likely to provide wicketkeeping options to the India A team along with Abhishek Porel. Nitish Kumar Reddy, Tanush Kotian and Manav Suthar are expected to be included as all-rounders. The fast bowling unit is expected to include Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed and Yash Dayal.

The first match of the four-day game will begin in Mackay on October 31. The second match will be played in Melbourne from 7 November.

According to India A team for Australia tour espncricinfo : Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Sai Sudarshan, B Inderjeet, Abhishek Porel (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Mukesh Kumar, Ricky Bhui, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Manav Suthar, Navdeep Saini, Khalil Ahmed, Tanush Kotian, Yash Dayal.