Shreyas Iyer has been chosen to captain the India A side for a two-match multi-day tour against Australia A later this month in Lucknow. The home-and-away series will provide the players an opportunity, especially players such as Iyer, who may be on the fringes of the senior national team as they like to call themselves, to put their best foot forward before the senior team have their home Test series against West Indies starting early st October.
It has been a while since Iyer played a Test match for India. He last played a Test match for India in February 2024 against England and he will want to put his hand up for this role again and perform very well in the red-ball series. Iyer has been recently playing in the Duleep Trophy and he will want to use this opportunity to accomplish something special. The squad for the tour will also have other experienced test players including KL Rahul and Mohammed Siraj (2nd match), I expect them to join the tour to regain their match fitness and rhythm before the senior test series starts.
Among the noteworthy inclusions is the return of Nitish Kumar Reddy, who had recently missed out on the England tour nursing a knee injury. After recovering the injury, Reddy had a bowling stint at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence and is displaying promising signs of a complete comeback. Reddy gives them depth and experience in a pace attack with Prasidh Krishna, Khaleel Ahmed, and Yash Thakur.
The side also features some young players who shone in domestic cricket, notable among them is Ayush Badoni, who was selected after scoring a double century in the ongoing Duleep Trophy. Badoni’s run tally and average in first-class cricket suggest he could be the next player to establish himself as a leading figure in India’s batting line-up. The other promising batters are Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, and N Jagadeesan.
Dhruv Jurel, who has been out of action with injury and missed the recent Duleep Trophy games, has been named as vice-captain, which shows the selectors’ confidence in his leadership capability and wicketkeeping ability. The spin department looks strong with young spinners such as Manav Suthar, Harsh Dubey and Tanush Kotian increasing the potential for variety and control.
The two red-ball matches in Lucknow will then be followed by three one-day matches in Kanpur, which will allow for players to get used to different formats and conditions. The series will ultimately serve as a good opportunity as not only a developmental activity for players, but a chance to back players for preparation for their national duties. With a mixture of both experience and youth, hopefully India A can put in some good performances against Australia A, and build momentum into international matches.
