India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant was on Monday ruled out of India A’s unofficial Test series against New Zealand A due to a left-side strain. Kumar Kushagra has been named as Pant’s replacement in the India A squad for the first two Tests. Kushagra is coming on the back of some excellent performances.
He recently scored a century for East Zone in the final of the Duleep Trophy against South Zone, and followed it up with another century for India A in the first unofficial Test against Australia A in Puducherry.
sustained the injury while captaining Rest of India in the Irani Cup match against Jammu & Kashmir in the first week of October.
“He remains under the care of the BCCI Medical Team and is recovering well. A decision on his availability for the third match will be taken at a later stage. The Men’s Selection Committee has named Kumar Kushagra as Pant’s replacement for the first two matches,” the BCCI said in a press release.
Pant was originally named the captain of the India A side. However, in his absence, fellow wicketkeeper-batter will lead the side against New Zealand A. Apart from Pant, several other Team India regulars, including KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Devdutt Padikkal, also feature in the India A squad.
However, according to The Times of India, Jaiswal, Rahul and Sundar could miss the second and third unofficial Tests as the matches clash with the ODI series against the Kiwis.
Lincoln will host the first unofficial Test between and A from 24 October, before the action shifts to Christchurch for the second Test from 31 October. The third and final Test will be played in Lincoln from 7 November.
The unofficial Test series comes at a time when India are scheduled to tour New Zealand for five T20Is, as many ODIs and two Tests. The five-match T20I series will begin on 22 October and will run till 1 November.
The ODI series will then get underway on 4 November and continue up until 15 November. That will be followed by the two-match Test series, which begins on 19 November.
India A updated squad for unofficial Test series vs New Zealand A: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Ravichandran Smaran, Dhruv Jurel [C] [WK], Washington Sundar, Auqib Nabi, Akash Deep, Anshul Kamboj, Manav Suthar, Mukesh Choudhary, Sai Sudharsan, Yash Rathod, Mukesh Kumar, Kumar Kushagra [WK] (1st and 2nd matches).
