IND A V BANGLADESH

Mukund to lead India A against Bangladesh

by Cricbuzz Staff • Published on

Abhinav Mukund scored 849 runs in 14 innings in the recently-concluded Ranji Trophy season and led Tamil Nadu to the semifinals © Cricbuzz

The selection panel of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced a 14-member squad India A squad, led by Abhinav Mukund, to take on Bangladesh in the two-day warm-up game ahead of Bangladesh's historic one-off Test match against India.

The squad features some of the top players from the recently-concluded Ranji Trophy season and fringe Indian cricketers. The 27-year old Mukund, who was part of the Indian team for the tour to West Indies and England in 2011, has been out of favour of the national selectors for more than five years. However, he scored 849 runs in 14 innings this season, including four tons and three half centuries, to make a strong statement for himself.

While the likes of Shreyas Iyer, Vijay Shankar, Hardik Pandya, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav and Shahbaz Nadeem have been regulars in the India A side lately, the likes of Priyank Panchal, CV Milind, Nitin Saini, Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan and Ishank Jaggi have been picked on the basis of their good form in domestic cricket.

Nadeem has collected over 100 wickets across the last two seasons of Ranji Trophy, finishing as the highest wicket-taker in both seasons. However, he hasn't received a national call-up as yet. Kuldeep Yadav, on the other hand, has been a rare exception of a player who went on to play in the Indian Premier League before making his first-class debut. The chinaman has remained one of the most prolific wicket-takers in the last three seasons. He had a superb run in the Duleep Trophy late last year, but couldn't do much playing on flat tracks during the recently-concluded Ranji Trophy season. He returned with an average of close of 30 with the ball, but played a couple of good knocks with the bat lower down the order.

Hardik Pandya and Jayant Yadav have made a smooth transition to international cricket and have contributed well with both bat and ball. While Pandya has only managed to play limited-overs cricket at the highest level so far, Jayant has also proved his mettle in the Test series against England.

The two-day warm-up tie is set to be played at the Gymkhana Ground in Secunderabad on February 5-6, 2017.

India A Squad: Abhinav Mukund, Priyank Panchal, Shreyas Iyer, Ishank Jaggi, Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan (wk), Vijay Shankar, Hardik Pandya, Shahbaz Nadeem, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Aniket Choudhary, CV Milind, Nitin Saini.

© Cricbuzz