MSK Prasad wants 26-man squad including India A in Australia; will help scout youngsters

Former Team India chief selector MSK Prasad opined that a 26-man squad, including the India A side, should tour Australia later this year in order for the senior Men in Blue cricketers to evaluate the younger players & understand potential future competitors for a spot in the Indian team. India are scheduled to play a three-match Test series against Australia in December in Down Under, including a day-night Test at the Adelaide Oval. With a 14-day quarantine protocol in place before the Test begins, the BCCI will most likely send a 'jumbo squad' comprising of over 20 players, similar to how England and Pakistan have already done so to train in a bio-secure environment. 

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'Opportunity to look at youngsters'  

MSK Prasad opined that sending a jumbo squad to Australia would provide the senior cricketers an opportunity to observe the youngsters who were' knocking at the doors'. In addition to this, Prasad said that it will also allow the team to monitor players who can be the potential challengers for different spots in the team in the future. the former chief selector also pointed out that the jumbo squad will help the team train among themselves as the exposure to net bowlers might increase the risk of contracting the virus. 

"The team management and seniors will have an opportunity to look at the youngsters who are knocking the doors," Prasad, who till February was selection committee head, told PTI during an interaction.

"In this process, you can also monitor those players who can be the potential guys for different spots in future," Prasad said.

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Prasad said that traveling with a jumbo squad would expose the team's first-choice batsmen to a variety of bowlers before facing the hosts. In addition to this, Prasad cited an example of how Shreyas Iyer and Khaleel Ahmed could help the Indian team train better with their skills which could be simulated as the Aussies' skills. Prasad also stressed on the need to travel with a huge squad in order to keep back-ups in place, considering that the IPL was likely to be held before the series and could possibly lead to a few injuries.  

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MSK Prasad's 26-man jumbo squad

Openers: Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul. 

Middle-order: Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer; 

Wicketkeeper: Rishabh Pant, Wriddhiman Saha.

Spinners:Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra  Jadeja, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rahul Chahar, Kuldeep Yadav, 

All-rounder: Hardik Pandya

Pacers: Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah,  Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmedh, Shardul Thakur.

Purely white ball: Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Krunal Pandya.

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