The men’s selection committee has selected a 15-member India A squad for the upcoming Australia tour. In this tour, India A will play two first-class matches along with one special game. 

The upcoming India A tour of Australia is very important for Indian cricket, as the Indian national cricket team will tour Australia in the second half of November to play the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. It will be a five-match Test series, which will be a part of the 2023-2025 ICC World Test Championship. 

India A will play two first-class matches

India A is set to travel to Australia. In this upcoming tour, India A will play two first-class matches against Australia A. McKay will host the first-class match from October 31 and Melbourne Cricket Ground will host the second first-class match from November 7. Both the matches will be four-day challenges. 

Also one intra-squad game

Later, India A will play a three-day intra-squad game against the Indian national cricket team at WACA, Perth. It will be an important practice match for the Indian national cricket team before the beginning of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy that will begin on November 22.  

India A leaders and wicketkeepers

Ruturaj Gaikwad will lead India A squad in the upcoming Australia tour, while the in-form domestic cricket opener Abhimanyu Easwaran will play the vice-captain role. Ishan Kishan and Abishek Porel have been selected as the wicketkeepers. 

Other India A members

Mukesh Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal, and Navdeep Saini have been selected as the pacers in the India A squad. Talking about the spinners, the selectors have selected the left-arm spin bowling all-rounder Manav Suthar and the off-spin bowling all-rounder Tanush Kotian. 

Nitish Kumar Reddy, who recently made his T20I debut during the home series against Bangladesh and won the Player of the Match award in the Delhi T20I for his all-round performances (74 off 34 balls and 4-0-23-2), has been selected in the India A squad. 

Talking about batting, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Ricky Bhui, and Baba Indrajith are the other key names apart from the leaders and wicketkeepers. 

India A squad for Australia tour

Ruturaj Gaikwad (Captain), Abhimanyu Easwaran (vice-captain), 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

Ajinkya Rahane’s Mumbai team made history on Saturday by clinching the Irani Cup for the first time in 27 years, defeating the Rest of India (RoI) side at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. This monumental victory marks Mumbai’s 15th Irani Cup title, the most by any Ranji Trophy team, further cementing their legacy as one of India's premier cricket teams.

Sarfaraz Khan shines with unbeaten double century

After being sent in to bat on Day 1, Mumbai made a commanding start by posting a formidable total of 537, thanks to Sarfaraz Khan’s blistering unbeaten knock of 222, his fourth First-Class double hundred. Sarfaraz’s innings was the cornerstone of Mumbai’s batting effort, while captain Ajinkya Rahane also contributed with a solid 97. The partnership laid the foundation for Mumbai’s dominance in the match.

𝐌𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐢 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 #𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐂𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 👏 👏

Mohit Avasthi gets his 50. Tanush Kotian remains unbeaten on 114. The players shake hands 🤝

The match ends in a draw & Mumbai win the trophy by virtue of taking first-innings lead 🙌#IraniCup | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/0GTKkAdU6m

— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) October 5, 2024

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Kotian’s heroics and Easwaran’s fightback

In response, Rest of India managed to score 416, with Abhimanyu Easwaran leading the fight with a brilliant 191. However, Mumbai's bowlers worked cohesively to secure a crucial 121-run first-innings lead, a margin that would prove to be the turning point. Mumbai’s second innings saw a shaky start with early dismissals, but Tanush Kotian’s heroic unbeaten 114 and Mohit Avasthi’s 51 not out stabilized the innings. The duo's unbroken 158-run partnership took the game beyond RoI’s reach.

With the match heading toward a draw, the teams shook hands when Mumbai reached 329 for 8, handing them victory based on their first-innings lead.

Replying to India C’s big first innings total in the second round of the Duleep Trophy 2024/25, captain Abhimanyu Easwaran is desperately fighting for India B with a solid century. 

As the reply to India C’s first innings total of 525 runs, India B started the third day at 124/0. However, during the fourth over of the day, wicketkeeper-batter Narayan Jagadeesan was dismissed for 70 runs as the opening partnership ended with 129 runs. 

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Abhimanyu Easwaran batted the complete day 3 to score 143 not out

Since the opening partnership was broken, the other opener and skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran was battling, while his other partners failed to provide any solid support to the captain. Among the other India B batters, only Sai Kishore (21) reached the 20-run mark, while Rahul Chahar was batting on 18 runs at the stumps of the day.

Starting day three on 51 runs, captain Easwaran took the responsibility to set up the challenge. The 29-year-old slammed his 24th first-class century and batted the complete third day to remain not out on 143 runs off 262 balls with 12 fours and one six. India B ended the day on 309/7 as they are still 67 runs behind the follow-on target.  

The right-arm medium bowler for India C, Anshul Kamboj, picked up five wickets on the third day. He finished the day with the bowling figures of 23.5-7-66-5. 

With Ishan Kishan’s century on his first-class return, three more half-centuries, and some other supporting batting performances, India C scored 525 runs in the first innings of the match. 

India A set a 488-run target for India D

Meanwhile, in the other match of the Duleep Trophy, India A have set up the giant 488-run fourth innings target for India D. Stating the third day on 115/1 with a lead of 222 runs, India A added 265 more runs, including two centuries, before the declaration. 

Opener Pratham Singh and the no.3 batter Tilak Varma hit centuries for India A on the third day. While Singh scored 122 runs off 189 balls with the help of 12 fours and one six, Varma remained not out on 111 runs off 193 balls with the help of nine fours. Riyan Parag scored 20 runs, and Shashwat Rawat was not out on 64 off 88 balls with seven fours as India A declared the innings on 380/3. 

In reply, India D ended the third day on 62/1. Although the opener Atharva Taide was dismissed for a duck by Khaleel Ahmed in the third over of the innings, another opener Yash Dubey (15*) remained not out with Ricky Bhui (44*). India D still needed 426 runs to win the match. 

Ruturaj Gaikwad, the Indian batter, will miss the remainder of the South Africa series due to an injury to his right finger sustained while fielding in the second ODI in Gqeberha. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officially confirmed this development through a press release on Saturday, December 23. Gaikwad will return to India for further management of his injury at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. Abhimanyu Easwaran has been chosen as the replacement for Gaikwad.

The BCCI Medical Team conducted scans and, following expert consultation, ruled Gaikwad out of the ongoing tour. The press release stated, “He will be reporting to the NCA for further management of his injury. The Men’s Selection Committee has named Abhimanyu Easwaran as his replacement.”

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Abhimanyu Easwaran, a top-order batter, has consistently performed well in A tours over the years, accumulating 6567 runs from 88 First-Class matches at an average of 47.24. Despite being 28 years old, Easwaran remains determined to represent India, as expressed in an earlier interview with India Today in 2023.

In addition to Gaikwad’s absence, fast bowler Harshit Rana will miss the four-day match against South Africa A on December 26 at Willowmoore Park in Benoni due to a hamstring injury. The Selection Committee has made changes to the India A squad, adding Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Avesh Khan, and Rinku Singh, while releasing Kuldeep Yadav.

India A’s updated squad for the four-day match against SA A:

• Abhimanyu Easwaran (C)
• Sai Sudharsan
• Rajat Patidar
• Sarfaraz Khan
• Tilak Varma
• Dhruv Jurel (wk)
• Axar Patel
• Washington Sundar
• Avesh Khan
• Navdeep Saini
• Akash Deep
• Vidhwath Kaverappa
• Manav Suthar
• Rinku Singh

Left-arm fast bowler Jaydev Unadkat has been added to the Indian Test squad for the two-match series against Bangladesh. Unadkat, who powered Saurashtra to the Vijay Hazare Trophy triumph recently, has been called up as a replacement for Mohammed Shami – ruled out of the series due to a bowling arm stress. Unadkat’s only appearance so far in the longest format was almost exactly 12 years ago, as a teenager straight out of India Under 19 side, in the first Test of the 2010-11 tour of South Africa. In that Test, in Centurion, he finished with figures of none for 101 as India lost by an innings and 25 runs.

Meanwhile, there are chances of regular skipper Rohit Sharma joining the squad ahead of second Test (December 22-26). He suffered a ‘blow on his left thumb’ during the second ODI in Dhaka on December 7. In the first Test (December 14-18), KL Rahul will be leading the side. Abhimanyu Easwaran, who led India A in the two-match series against Bangladesh. Has been named as a cover for Rohit in the first Test. Unadkat is the second player set to join India’s Test squad in Bangladesh as an injury replacement. On Friday evening, Abhimanyu Easwaran, the Bengal player who led India A to a 1-0 win in the four-day series against Bangladesh A on a shadow tour.

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Unadkat replaces Shami for Tests in Bangladesh

Was called-up as cover for Rohit Sharma, who has flown home to Mumbai to nurse a finger injury he picked up during the ODI series. Left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar is also in line to replace Ravindra Jadeja. Saurabh finished the ‘A’ tour with a haul of 15 wickets across two red-ball matches. Over the past five years, Unadkat has built up an impressive body of work with Saurashtra. The team he has led to a wave of success in the Indian domestic circuit. He was front and centre during their first Ranji Trophy title win in 2019-20, picking up 67 wickets. The second-highest haul by a bowler in a season. Over the last three Ranji seasons, Unadkat has picked up 115 wickets in 21 matches.

If you love the way you play the game, all other things will fall in place. I love this space and the mindset I’m currently in and don’t want to change that for anything. But the hunger and fire to play and perform for the country is still burning bright.” Ahead of the Vijay Hazare Trophy final, Unadkat reiterated that “the hunger and fire to play and perform for the country is still burning bright”. Unadkat led Saurashtra to the title, finishing as the tournament’s highest wicket-taker with 19 wickets in ten games.