KS Bharat To Lead India A In Matches Against South Africa A

The BCCI announced an inter-squad for a three-day match set for December 20 to 22, featuring prominent players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who are set to miss the white-ball series against SA.

Wicketkeeper-batsman, KS Bharat, will captain India A during the forthcoming two four-day matches against South Africa A, coinciding with the senior team's tour later this month. The Board Of Cricket For Control In India (BCCI) unveiled distinct squads for these games, featuring Bharat, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Dhruv Jurel, Manav Suthar, and Vidhwath Kaverappa participating in both fixtures.

The inclusion of Bengal's top-order batter, Easwaran, is dependent upon his fitness, clarified the BCCI. The 30-year-old Bharat's last appearance for India was in the World Test Championship final against Australia in June.

Devdutt Padikkal, Karnataka's standout performer in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy, also finds himself in the squad for the first match, aligning with the build-up to the Centurion Test scheduled for Boxing Day.

The squad for the first match, slated from December 11 to 14, includes Mumbai's Sarfaraz Khan, along with talents like Prasidh Krishna and Tushar Deshpande. Meanwhile, the second four-day game, planned from December 26 to 29, will see Tilak Varma, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, and Navdeep Saini in action. The subsequent four-day fixture leads into the second and final Test in Cape Town from January 3 to 7.

Furthermore, the BCCI has announced an inter-squad for a three-day match set for December 20 to 22, featuring prominent players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who are set to miss the white-ball series against South Africa. The squad comprises stalwarts such as Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shubman Gill, and Shreyas Iyer. However, the captain for the inter-squad three-day match remains undisclosed.

Squad Details:

India A squad for the 1st four-day match: KS Bharat (C, wk), Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran*, Devdutt Padikkal, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Shardul Thakur, Pulkit Narang, Sourabh Kumar, Manav Suthar, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Tushar Deshpande.

India A squad for 2nd four-day match: KS Bharat (C, wk), Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran*, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, Akash Deep, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Navdeep Saini.

India Inter-squad three-day match: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Abhimanyu Easwaran*, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, KS Bharat (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pulkit Narang, Harshit Rana, Shardul Thakur, Sourabh Kumar, Manav Suthar, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini.