India 'A' have suffered a huge blow ahead of 2018 edition of the Deodhar Trophy as skipper Ravichandran Ashwin has been ruled out of the tournament due to an injury, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on Wednesday.

New Delhi: India 'A' have suffered a huge blow ahead of 2018 edition of the Deodhar Trophy as skipper Ravichandran Ashwin has been ruled out of the tournament due to an injury, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on Wednesday.

"India A captain R Ashwin has been ruled out of the upcoming Prof D B Deodhar Trophy 2017-18 to be held in Dharamsala. Ashwin has a niggling issue and the BCCI Medical Team has advised him a week’s rest," the BCCI said in a statement.

Spinner Shahbaz Nadeem has been named as Ashwin's replacement in the side while Maharashtra cricketer Ankit Bawne has been named as the captain for India 'A'. Bawne was earlier part of the India 'B' squad but the selectors have opted to name him the captain of India 'A'and Akshdeep Nath moves towards the other side to facilitate the change.

Ashwin was recently named as the captain of the Kings XI Punjab for the eleventh edition of the IPL as well, which starts on April 7.

"I see it as a natural progression for having played cricket for so long at the top level. I have always felt I had it in me (to be captain). WV Raman identified me as a captain when I was 21 years old. I ended up winning a few titles for TN. But for a bowler to become a captain, which is not something natural in the country, this is something fascinating,” Ashwin was quoted as saying by 'Times of India'.

India A Squad: Ankit Bawne (Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Unmukt Chand, Shubman Gill, Ricky Bhui, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan (WK), Krunal Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Basil Thampi, Kulwant Khejroliya, Amandeep Khare, Rohit Rayudu

India B Squad: Shreyas Iyer (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Akshdeep Nath, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Manoj Tiwary, Siddhesh Lad, KS Bharat (WK), Jayant Yadav, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Hanuma Vihari, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshal Patel, Umesh Yadav, Rajat Patidar