New Delhi, India (BBN)-India opener Shikhar Dhawan has been named captain of the A squad to play a three-day match against Bangladesh A in September.
Dhawan had been ruled out of the second and third Test in Sri Lanka last month after fracturing his hand during the first Test in Galle, reports ESPNcricinfo.
Varun Aaron, who lost his Test spot to Umesh Yadav after a profligate showing in Galle, will get a chance to impress in the three-day game.
Ravindra Jadeja, left out of both Test and ODI sides after having been a regular not too long ago, got a big break just before the start of the home season.
His selection indicated he was still part of India’s plans, and if he can have a good early season, the third spinner’s slot could be his for the taking after a lukewarm performance from Harbhajan Singh.
It has been a good pre-season for the young Karnataka batsman, Karun Nair, whose most notable performance was his second-innings century to save a four-day match against South Africa A.
He was named in both the three-day and one-day sqauds, and should also play the other three-day game between Bangladesh A and the Ranji Trophy champions Karnataka.
Nair’s captain in the one-day side will be Delhi batsman Unmukt Chand.
Suresh Raina was the only India regular in the squad, but Kedar Jadhav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Manish Pandey and Sanju Samson – all named in this squad – were part of the contingent that won all the three ODIs in Zimbabwe.
Legspinner Karn Sharma, who missed out on the Zimbabwe tour because of injury, was back too.
Two promising young spinners, chinaman Kuldeep Yadav and offspinner Jayant Yadav, were also handed a chance to stake claims for an international spot during a busy home season.
The three one-day fixtures will be played on September 16, 18 and 20, and the three-day match from September 27 to 29. All the games will be held in Bangalore.
Karnataka will play Bangladesh A from September 22 to 24 in Mysore.
Three-day squad Shikhar Dhawan (capt), Abhinav Mukund, Karun Nair, Shreyas Iyer, Baba Aparajith, Naman Ojha, Jayant Yadav, Vijay Shankar, Ravindra Jadeja, Shreyas Gopal, Abhimanyu Mithun, Varun Aaron, Ishwar Pandey, Sheldon Jackson
ONE-DAY SQUAD: Unmukt Chand (capt), Mayank Agarwal, Manish Pandey, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, Sanju Samson, Karun Nair, Kuldeep Yadav, Jayant Yadav, Karn Sharma, Rishi Dhawan, S Aravind, Dhawal Kulkarni, Rush Kalaria, Gurkeerat Singh Mann
BBN/SK/AD