Pandya to lead India A in 3-day warm-up match against Australia

NEW DELHI: All-rounder Hardik Pandya will be leading an India A side in a three-day warm-up game against Australia at the Brabourne Stadium from February 16-18.

The team has a lot of promising youngsters who have performed in the Ranji Trophy which includes top-scorer Priyank Panchal of Gujarat, Services batsman G Rahul Singh, who has had a phenomenal season in the Plate Group scoring 945 runs at an average of 72 plus.

Selectors for the second time made it clear that Ishan Kishan is being groomed as glovesman for future longer format while Rishabh Pant is being looked purely as a batsman in this category. The lesser known of the Baba twins — Baba Indrajith has also got rewarded for his consistency.

Maharashtra’s Ankit Bawne also got his chance for scoring an unbeaten 351 not out against Delhi and a total of 687 runs.

Some of the players have been picked up purely on the basis of potential like young Delhi speedster Navdeep Saini, who is being spoken highly in Delhi cricket circuit. Pacer Mohammed Siraj, who recently played for Rest of India has also been named. The highly rated Shreyas Iyer is also in the squad. Karnataka offspinner Krishnappa Gowtham and chinaman Kuldeep Yadav are also in the squad with Ranji Trophy’s highest wickettaker Shahbaz Nadeem also in the squad.

The only above 30 player in the team is Bengal speedster Ashok Dinda, who defied age to get 39 wickets.