Cricket fans will be in for a treat at Bay Oval next month when New Zealand A squares off against an India A side bristling with some of the best-known names in the business.
Amongst the Rahul Dravid-coached “A” line-up for the opening four-day match at Mt Maunganui will be current Test squad members Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Murali Vijay, Privthi Shaw, Parthiv Patel, and Hanuma Vihari - all of whom will be using the outing as preparation for the India’s opening Test against Australia, in Adelaide.
Rahane will captain the “A” team at Bay Oval; Rohit and Murali are experienced Test players making a comeback, Shaw is a rising star who earlier this month became the youngest player to score a century on Test debut for India, and batting allrounder Vihari announced himself with a half-century on debut in the fifth Test at the Oval.
Parthiv will arrive at the Bay Oval as the back-up gloveman to Rishabh Pant but will still treat the match as a final opportunity to impress ahead of the Adelaide Test.
The six Test players are expected to fly back to Adelaide immediately after the NZ A game, at which point India will augment its A squad for the final two four-dayers at Seddon Park (starting November 23) and Cobham Oval (November 30) – adding Karun Nair (captain), Abhimanyu Easwaran, R. Samarth, Ankeet Bawne, Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan.
The New Zealand and India A one-day sides will then contest a three-match 50-over series, the games to be played at Bay Oval on December 7, 9 and 11.
And, of course, that will act as a mere appetiser for what is to follow in January and February – India’s full-strength men’s and women’s sides taking on the BLACKCAPS and the WHITE FERNS, respectively, in both ODI and T20Is, some of which will be played as double-headers.
India A squad for first four-day game: Murali Vijay, Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Parthiv Patel, Krishnappa Gowtham, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Rajneesh Gurbani, Vijay Shankar, Srikar Bharat
India A squad for last two four-day games: Karun Nair (c), Rajneesh Gurbani, Mayank Agarwal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, R Samarth, Ankeet Bawne, Shubman Gill, Vijay Shankar, Srikar Bharat, Ishan Kishan, Krishnappa Gowtham, Shabaz Nadeem, Mohammad Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar
India A squad for List A games: Mayank Agarwal, Anmolpreet Singh, Shubhman Gill, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Ankeet Bawne, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Krunal Pandya, Siddarth Kaul, Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed
