Gujarat opener Priyank Panchal was on Wednesday named captain of the 16-member India ‘A’ squad for the three four-day games against New Zealand ‘A’, starting later this month. Apart from Panchal, the squad also includes the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad, Kuldeep Yadav, and Prasidh Krishna. Pace sensation Umran Malik, 22, has also been named in the squad. The selectors also took into consideration performances of those players who fared well in the domestic season and named the likes of Bengal’s star batter Abhimanyu Easwaran, Madhya Pradesh’s Ranji Trophy winning hero Rajat Patidar, and Mumbai’s Sarfaraz Khan.

The team also includes a number of uncapped players, such as young batter Tilak Varma, medium pacer Mukesh Kumar and Yash Dayal.

Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy stadium will host the first and the third red-ball games, while the second match will take place at Hubli’s Rajnagar stadium.

Promoted

Chennai’s MA Chidambaram stadium will host the three one-day games, squad for which will be announced later.

India A Squad: Priyank Panchal (Captain), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraaz Khan, Tilak Varma, KS Bharat (wk), Upendra Yadav (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Saurabh Kumar, Rahul Chahar, Prasidh Krishna, Umran Malik, Mukesh Kumar, Yash Dayal, Arzan Nagwaswalla.