BCCI Is Likely to Send a Few Senior Stars Along with the India A Team for a Three-Game First-Class Tour to South Africa

The Indian team’s attention has switched from the ODI World Cup to the T20I and Test formats in preparation for the World Test Championship cycle and the T20 World Cup in 2020, respectively. Even though Rohit Sharma and company did not win the ODI World Cup, the Men in Blue are very motivated to break their ICC championship drought, which has now lasted for ten years.

The Indian side is presently playing a five-match Twenty20 International series against Australia without any senior players. They won the first game to take a 1-0 lead. Following the series, attention will turn to the major tour of South Africa, particularly the two-match Test series that begins on December 26.

The BCCI intends to send a few of the Test team’s top players ahead of schedule to South Africa to compete in the “shadow tour” of the nation, which consists of three matches. This information was reported in PTI.

The board has previously organized “A” team trips to nations where the senior team was scheduled to play Test matches; however, with the Bangladesh series in 2018, the ODI World Cup took precedence over the cricket pathways (A team tours, U-19 series).

However, there will be five or six “A” games in first-class format between December and January, giving the homegrown players an opportunity to show off their abilities.

Prior to India’s five-match mega series against the senior English team, there will be three “Tests” (four-day games) scheduled against South Africa “A” and two to three more against England Lions (England “A”) in January.

“Yes, South Africa’s ‘A’ and India’s ‘A’ will play three four-day Test matches next month. In a few days, the squad for that will be revealed. Before the two Test matches in Centurion (December 26–30) and Cape Town (January 3–7), the majority of the reliable young players as well as the veterans who need some playing time would be there, a BCCI source informed PTI on condition of anonymity.

Abhimanyu Easwaran, B Sai Sudharsan, Yash Dhull, Kona Bharat, Upendra Yadav, and Saurabh Kumar—all reliable players in domestic cricket—will undoubtedly figure in the grand scheme of things. To prepare for the African challenge, it would be intriguing to see whether veterans like Jaydev Unadkat, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Ajinkya Rahane could play at least one four-day match.

The two red-ball off-spinners who are often called upon in the India nets during Test series, Test discard Jayant Yadav and Services off-spinner Pulkit Narang, might also be mentioned.

Young pacers like Umran Malik, Kuldeep Sen, Harshit Rana, and Vidwath Kaverappa may be included alongside veterans like Navdeep Saini.

Mayank Agarwal led the Ranji Trophy in scoring the previous season, but it remains to be seen whether the senior Karnataka player would be called up given the importance of Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shubman Gill.