BCCI Names 15-Member India A Side For Tour Against Australia; Gaikwad To Captain, Kishan Returns

Ishan Kishan, who earlier in the year was axed from the list of centrally contracted players, has returned to the scheme of things as an India A player. On Monday, BCCI unveiled a set of 15 players who will tour Australia for two first-class matches and a three-day intra-squad game. Ruturaj Gaikwad will captain the side.

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BCCI Names 15 Member India A Squad For Australia Tour

Ishan Kishan returned to the national reckoning as he was on Monday named in a 15-member India A squad, to be led by Ruturaj Gaikwad , for the upcoming tour of Australia. Fresh from his fine hundred against Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy, Maharashtra 's Gaikwad was named captain of the India A team. India A will play two first-class matches against Australia A in Mackay and Melbourne and then take part in a three-day intra-squad game against the senior India team in Perth.

Apart from Gaikwad, the squad also includes other opening batters like Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sai Sudharsan, as India will likely need to name a reserve opener in their Test squad for the upcoming tour of Australia, with captain Rohit Sharma set to miss one of the first two matches of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for personal reasons. Kishan, who was dropped from the BCCI central contracts earlier this year due to concerns that he was "prioritising" the cash-rich Indian Premier League over domestic cricket, made his return to the India A setup.

Kishan was last part of the India squad during the tour of South Africa in 2023, which he had left midway. The batter had reportedly taken a personal break which did not go down well with the BCCI. After the player decided to skip the domestic competitions in the run-up to the IPL , the BCCI dropped him from the central contract.

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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

(With inputs from PTI)