The outings of Abhimanyu Easwaran, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Prasidh Krishna will be the primary focal points of India A’s four-day match against their Australian counterparts, starting on Thursday. Easwaran, Nitish and Pradish have been included in India’s squad for the five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, beginning on November 22, and the thinktank will be eager to know how they fare in Australian conditions. Easwaran’s performance will, however, have far more significance as the 29-year-old opener could potentially Rohit Sharma’s replacement if the captain skips a match or two against Australia for personal reasons.
Easwaran, who is also the vice-captain of India A here, is a vastly experienced campaigner having played 99 First-Class matches to score 7638 runs with 27 hundreds and 29 fifties.
He has also been part of the India squad in the past but what inspires confidence is his recent form in First-Class matches.
The right-hander struck 157 and 116 for India B in the Duleep Trophy before making a 191 against Mumbai for Rest of India in the Irani Trophy and made another hundred in his final red-ball game before flying out to Australia – an unbeaten 127 against Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy.
So, he has the body of work to feel in fine fettle ahead of the match against Australia A, though the conditions here will be vastly different from what he has experienced so far this season in India.
On the other hand, Nitish does not boast of such impressive First-Class numbers, as he has been drafted into squad for his perceived ability as a pace-bowling all-rounder and, even in that, batting is his stronger suit.
In the Duleep Trophy earlier this year, Nitish made two ducks with a highest of 40 in five matches while grabbing just two wickets.
But the selectors have backed him ahead of senior names such as Shardul Thakur, who has resumed playing domestic matches after recovering from an injury.
So, this will be a good opportunity for the selectors to check how the Andhra man measures up to a very capable Australia A side that includes the likes of Camreon Bancroft, Marcus Harris, Michael Neser, Cooper Connolly and Scott Boland.
Prasidh is a late addition to the India A squad in place of initially picked up Yash Dayal, and the Karnataka pacer needs to find some rhythm here.
Since his return from injury, Prasidh has picked up just seven wickets in as many innings across Duleep Trophy, Irani Cup and Ranji Trophy.
But the selectors seemed to have been influenced by the theoretical advantage his height brings in on the Australian decks.
Prasidh can use this opportunity to keep himself ready if he gets a call-up to the first eleven as the third seamer behind Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj or if the management wants to rest one of the frontline pacers as part of workload management during the tour.
Other than this aforementioned troika, the likes of skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, top-order batter B Sai Sudharsan, pacers Yash Dayal and Navdeep Saini and middle-order batter Devdutt Padikkal can look forward to churn out some good efforts to keep themselves on the periphery of selection in case of an eventuality in the senior side.
Ishan Kishan, the wicketkeeper batter, too will be eager to make the most of this chance after a finding his favour back with the powers that be.
India A: Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), Abhimanyu Easwaran (vice-capt), Devdutt Padikkal, Sai Sudharsan, B Indrajith, Abishek Porel (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Mukesh Kumar, Ricky Bhui, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Manav Suthar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Tanush Kotian, Prasidh Krishna.
Australia A: Nathan McSweeney (c), Cameron Bancroft, Scott Boland, Jordan Buckingham, Cooper Connolly, Ollie Davies, Brendan Doggett, Marcus Harris, Sam Konstas, Nathan McAndrew, Michael Neser, Todd Murphy, Fergus O’Neill, Jimmy Peirson, Josh Philippe, Corey Rocchiccioli, Beau Webster.
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