The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has named India's 15-member squad for the tour of Australia. Currently out of the Indian team, Ishan Kishan has been included in the squad that will be led by Ruturaj Gaikwad.
"The Men’s Selection Committee has picked a 15-member India A squad for the upcoming tour of Australia. India A will play two first-class matches against Australia A in Mackay and Melbourne respectively and then take part in a three-day intra-squad game against Team India (Senior Men) in Perth," BCCI said in a statement.
India A's opening game against Australia A will be played from October 31 to November 3 in Mackay, followed by the second game from November 7 to November 10 in Melbourne. The intra-squad game will be played between India A and the senior team from November 15 to 17 in Perth.
Ishan has been out of the Indian team after pulling out from the South Africa Test series. His last appearance for the Men in Blue came in the T20I series against Australia after the ODI World Cup 2023.
Meanwhile, Abhimanyu Easwaran, who has been on a run-scoring spree in the domestic circuit has been made the vice-captain. Easwaran slammed four centuries in back-to-back matches in the domestic arena. He is also tipped to be running for a place in the senior team.
Pace-bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar also finds his place in the A team after making his T20I debut against Bangladesh. The pace attack features Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Yash Dayal and Navdeep Saini, while Manav Suthar and Tanush Kotian share the spin-bowling duty.
India will travel to Australia for the much-anticipated five-match Border-Gavaskar series as they look to register a hat-trick of series wins Down Under. India had won the series for the first time in Australia in 2018/19 before a magical series win in 2020/21.
The upcoming series will feature five Test matches between India and Australia for the first time since 1991-92.
India A squad for the tour of Australia: Ruturaj Gaikwad (C), Abhimanyu Easwaran (VC), Sai Sudharsan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Devdutt Padikkal, Ricky Bhui, Baba Indrajith, Ishan Kishan (WK), Abishek Porel (WK), Mukesh Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal, Navdeep Saini, Manav Suthar, Tanush Kotian
