The selectors of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday announced a 12-man India A squad which will face South Africa in a warm-up T20 game at the Palam cricket ground in New Delhi on 29 September.
The India A team will be led by Punjab and RCB-lad Mandeep Singh. There are a number of new faces in this India A squad for the warm-up game. Manan Vohra, Hardik Patel, Anureet Singh to name just three
The warm-up T20 match was supposed to be played at the Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) ground in New Delhi, but due to the ongoing unrest between two cricket governing bodies there, BCCI decided to shift the game to the Palam ground.
This T20 game will give the South Africa players some much-needed match practice ahead of the 1st T20 against India, which will be played in Dharamsala on 2 October. South Africa are yet to arrive in India, but as soon as they reach, they will be gearing up for the marathon series against India.
In this 72-days-long energy-sapping tour, India and South Africa will play three T20 internationals, five ODIs and four Test matches.
There are a number of players in this India A squad who have impressed the selectors during the IPL. Leggie Yuzvendra Chahal was quite impressive when he donned the Royal Challengers Bangalore jersey, and he was also their highest wicket-taker in the last season of the IPL. Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav too will be watched closely by the selectors during this T20 warm-up game.
Mayank Agarwal, Rishi Dhawan and Sanju Samson have had a wonderful season so far, and all the three players have done well for India A in recent times. Manish Pandey too will be looking to get back to scoring ways, as he did not fare well during the ODI series against Bangladesh A. The last time Pandey hit a ton, though, was against South Africa A in the triangular series, which India A won.
Here's the India A squad for the T20 warm-up match against South Africa:
Mayank Agarwal, Manan Vohra, Manish Pandey, Mandeep Singh (c), Surya Kumar Yadav, Sanju Samson (wk), Hardik Pandya, Rishi Dhawan, Anureet Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Pawan Negi, Kuldeep Yadav.
