Manoj Tiwary and Robin Uthappa will lead the two India A squads on their tour of Australia in July and August this year.

Manoj Tiwary and Robin Uthappa will lead the two India A squads on their tour of Australia in July and August this year. Tiwary will captain the four-day side in two games against Australia ‘A’, while Uthappa will captain the India A team in the limited-overs quadrangular series, which also includes South Africa ‘A,’ Australia ‘A,’ and Cricket Australia’s National Performance Squad.

Karun Nair, who impressed for Rajasthan Royals and Karnataka, finds a place in the four-day squad alongside Jaspreet Bumrah and Sandeep Sharma, while Akshar Patel, Sanju Samson and Manan Vohra will be on the plane for the quadrangular series.

The appointment of Tiwary as captain of the four-day squad is something of a surprise given that he missed the Ranji Trophy season because of injury, as well as most of the IPL. The selectors appear to be sending him a message that he is still in their thinking and have handed him a glorious chance to stake his claim for a spot in the senior side.

Tiwary is also in the limited-overs squad, though he will hand the captaincy over to Uthappa. Apart from these two, Ambati Rayudu is the only player who is in both squads.

Umesh Yadav will lead the fast bowling attack under Tiwary, giving him a chance to stake a claim for India's tour of the four-Test tour of Australia that will precede the 2015 World Cup. Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha will jostle for the lead spinner's spot.

Manish Pandey, who played the match-winning knock in the IPL final, joins his Kolkata Knight Riders team-mate Uthappa for the quadrangular series. Kedar Jadhav, who had an outstanding Ranji Trophy and was one of the few bright spots for the Delhi Daredevils this season, also finds a place.

There are no out-and-out fast bowlers in the limited-overs squad though. Mohit Sharma is the seam bowler with the most international experience while Karn Sharma, Parvez Rasool and Akshar Patel will share spinning duties.

Squads

Four day matches: Manoj Tiwary (Captain,) K.L. Rahul, Jiwanjot Singh, Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, Karun Nair, Naman Ojha, Pragyan Ojha, Umesh Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Anureet Singh, Rajat Paliwal, Amit Mishra, Sandeep Sharma, Jaspreet Bumrah, B. Aparajith.

Quadrangular Series: Robin Uthappa (Captain,) Unmukt Chand, Manish Pandey, Ambati Rayudu, Manoj Tiwary, Kedar Jadhav, Sanju Samson, Parvez Rasool, Akshar Patel, Dhawal Kulkarni, Rishi Dhawan, Mohit Sharma, Karn Sharma, Rahul Shukla, Manan Vohra, Jaydev Unadkat.