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File photo of Karun Nair© AFP
Karun Nair and Ishan Kishan were included in the India A squad for the upcoming tour of England while the team will be lead by Abhimanyu Easwaran. The team also featured Yashasvi Jaiswal while Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan will be joining the squad ahead of their second match. Dhruv Jurel was named the vice-captain while Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shardul Thakur were also named in the squad. Ruturaj Gaikwad, who missed IPL 2025 due to injury, and Sarfaraz Khan were also included.
According to the BCCI media release, Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan will join the squad ahead of the second match. The two matches will take place on May 30 and June 6.
India A will play two first-class matches against the England Lions at Canterbury and Northampton.
The tour will conclude with a match against Team India (Senior Men).
Nair, who scored a triple hundred against England in Chennai in December 2016, scored 863 runs at an average of 53.93 in Vidarbha's Ranji Trophy winning 2024/25 season and became the fourth-highest run-getter of the tournament.
He also featured for Northamptonshire in the Division 1 County Championships over the last two seasons - In 14 innings, he scored 736 runs at an average of 56.61, including hitting two centuries and highest score of 202 not out.
The performances of Nair and Easwaran will be of huge interest to the Indian team management and the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee, as they look to fill the huge gaps in the batting order after the retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
Other Test players included in the India ‘A' squad are Dhruv Jurel, who's appointed as the vice-captain of the team, as well as Yashasvi Jaiswal, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shardul Thakur, Ishan Kishan, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Harshit Rana, and Sarfaraz Khan, who was out of action after picking a rib injury on the 2024/25 tour of Australia.
Uncapped players like Manav Suthar, Tanush Kotian, Anshul Kamboj, Tushar Deshpande, and Harsh Dubey – the leading wicket-taker and Player of the Tournament in 2024/25 Ranji Trophy - also find places. Khaleel Ahmed and Ruturaj Gaikwad, who have played white-ball games for India, are also included in the touring party to England.
India A squad for England tour: Abhimanyu Easwaran (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel (VC) (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shardul Thakur, Ishan Kishan (WK), Manav Suthar, Tanush Kotian, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Harshit Rana, Anshul Kamboj, Khaleel Ahmed, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sarfaraz Khan, Tushar Deshpande, Harsh Dubey.
(With IANS inputs)
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