India A tour of South Africa 2017: IPL stars Krunal Pandya, Basil Thampi get maiden call-up

Krunal Pandya, Basil Thampi and Mohammed Siraj were among the notable Indian Premier League stars to have found their names in the India A squad for the tour to South Africa, starting 26 July.

With India A scheduled to play a tri-nation series involving South Africa A and Australia A and two four-day matches against the hosts, the All-India Senior Selection Committee met earlier today in Mumbai to select the squads for the tour, according to BCCI's official website.

While Manish Pandey, who missed the Champions Trophy 2017 with a side strain, will be leading the limited-over squad and Karnataka star Karun Nair will skipper the first-class team.

Krunal, the elder brother of India regular Hardik Pandya, has been a key member of defending IPL champions of Mumbai Indians unit ever since he made his league debut in 2016. The 26-year-old all-rounder scored 243 runs in the 2017 season and picked up 10 wickets at an average of 27.30.

The all-rounder has showcased big-match skills in the lucrative league and thus his addition to the India A squad will be a huge step for him towards joining his brother in the senior national squad.

Meanwhile, yorker specialist Thampi, who starred for Gujarat Lions in his maiden IPL season earlier this year with 11 wickets, has also been handed his maiden India A call-up along with Siraj, who plied his trade for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Notably, the latter stole the limelight when he finished as the third-highest wicket-taker with 41 scalps in Ranji Trophy 2016/17.

Shardul Thakur along with Siraj are the only two pacers to have found their names in both the One Day and first-class squads. Speedgun Aniket Choudhary, who was part of Royal Challengers Bangalore team in the recently-concluded IPL season, has also been selected for the four-day matches.

Delhi dasher Rishabh Pant, who is currently part of Virat Kohli's team in the West Indies, has been picked as the only wicketkeeper for the One-Day squad while former India U19 skipper Ishan Kishan will do the glove-work with the first-class team.

Teams

One Day squad: Mandeep Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, Manish Pandey (Captain), Deepak Hooda, Karun Nair, Krunal Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wk), Vijay Shankar, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jayant Yadav, Basil Thampi, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Siddarth Kaul.

First-class squad: PK Panchal, Abhinav Mukund, Shreyas Iyer, Ankit Bawne, Karun Nair (Captain), Sudip Chatterjee, Ishan Kishan (wk), Hanuma Vihari, Jayant Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Aniket Choudhary, Ankit Rajpoot.

Full schedule