The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has taken a massive decision to maintain the workload of opener Rohit Sharma ahead of the upcoming Australia tour. He has been rested for India A's first unofficial Test in New Zealand after being named in the squad originally.
Rohit made his comeback into the Test side recently and will be leaving directly for Australia with India's T20 squad on Friday.
“Rohit Sharma has been advised rest by the BCCI Medical Team in consultation with the team management and the All-India Senior Selection Committee. The decision was taken keeping in mind his recent workload,” said the BCCI in a statement.
He was picked for the four-day game alongside senior players such as Ajinkya Rahane, Murali Vijay, Hanuma Vihari, Parthiv Patel and young Prithvi Shaw, who are all part of the India squad for the four-Test series in Australia.
India A coach Rahul Dravid had pointed out that playing in New Zealand ahead of the Australia tour would provide valuable match time to the senior players. The first of the three unofficial Tests begins in Mount Maunganui from Friday.
The selectors have not named Rohit's replacement and the team will be picked from the 14-member squad. With the seniors playing only the opening game, a separate squad was named for the second and third four-day matches.
Rohit will now have only one red-ball practice game ahead of the first Test beginning December 6 at Adelaide. Before that, he will play the three-match Twenty20 series, starting November 21 at The Gabba.
India A squad for the 1st four-day game against New Zealand A:
Ajinkya Rahane (Captain), M Vijay, Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari, Parthiv Patel (wicket-keeper), K Gowtham, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Rajneesh Gurbani, Vijay Shankar, KS Bharat (wicket-keeper).