India A team has been announced for two four-day matches against South Africa A. Wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant, who is recovering from injury, has been made the captain of the team. Whereas Sai Sudarshan has been made the vice-captain. Under-19 team captain Ayush Mhatre has also been selected. Most of the regular members of the Indian Test team including KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj and Dhruv Jurel will be seen playing in the second match.
Both the matches will be played at the BCCI Center of Excellence in Bengaluru. Apart from Ayush Mhatre, players like Harsh Dubey, Tanush Kotian, Anshul Kamboj, Yash Thakur and Saransh Jain will be seen playing in the first match. Abhimanyu Easwaran and Ruturaj Gaikwad have also been selected in the second match. Khalil Ahmed is also in the team. The first match will be played between 30 October and 2 November. The second match will be played between November 6 and November 9.
Rishabh Pant was injured while attempting a reverse sweep off Chris Woakes in the fourth Test on the England tour. His leg was broken. Due to this, he was not seen playing in the two-match Test series against West Indies.
Ignoring Sarfaraz Khan
Sarfaraz Khan, who recently lost weight, has not been selected in the team for this series. Amazing things are happening with this 28 year old player from Mumbai. First he was made to sit on the bench and then he was dropped from the Indian Test team. Now selection is not happening even for India.
During the announcement of Team India for the Test series against West Indies, when Ajit Agarkar was asked about not selecting Sarfaraz Khan, he had said that Sarfaraz is not fit. Now Agarkar cannot even give the excuse of injury because Sarfaraz is completely fit. And playing Ranji Trophy. He scored 42 and 32 runs for Mumbai against Jammu and Kashmir in the first round.
However, a young player like Ayush Mhatre has got a chance in place of Sarfaraz Khan. The Indian team next has to play a Test series against South Africa on home soil in November. There is less possibility of Sarfaraz being selected in this team also.
India A team for the first four-day match
Rishabh Pant (captain), Ayush Mhatre, N Jagadeesan, Sai Sudarshan, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar, Harsh Dubey, Tanush Kotian, Manav Suthar, Anshul Kamboj, Yash Thakur, Ayush Badoni, Saransh Jain.
India A team for the second four-day match
Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Dhruv Jurel, Sai Sudarshan, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Harsh Dubey, Tanush Kotian, Manav Suthar, Khaleel Ahmed, Gurnoor Brar, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Akashdeep.