India A's upcoming tour of Australia is going to start on 31st October. This tour is very important just before the Senior Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 series starting from November 22. This informal series can prove to be very important for the young players as it can help them in honing their skills in Australian conditions and tough environment. Keeping in mind that captain Rohit Sharma may miss the first or second match of the series, how Abhimanyu Easwaran plays in this series is going to be very important.
Keep an eye on these players
India A and Australia A will play two four-day matches in Mackay and Melbourne, followed by a three-day intra-squad match against the senior India team in Perth. The first four-day match will be played in Mackay from Thursday 31 October. During this time, all eyes will be on Abhimanyu Easwaran, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Prasidh Krishna. Easwaran, Nitish and Prasidh have been selected in the Indian team for the Border Gavaskar Trophy against Australia starting from November 22 and hence the Indian team management will keep a special eye on their performance in the Australian conditions.
In these, Easwaran's performance will be very important because if captain Rohit Sharma is unable to play one or two matches of this five-Test series due to personal reasons, then this 29-year-old batsman may get a chance to open the innings. Easwaran is a very experienced batsman. He has so far scored 7638 runs in 99 first-class matches, which includes 27 centuries and 29 half-centuries. He is in good form at the moment but the circumstances will be completely different in Australia.
Nitish's statistics are not that impressive but apart from bowling fast, he can also bat well and that is why the selection committee has given him priority over Shardul Thakur who has returned after recovering from injury. This will be a great opportunity for Nitish to prove his ability. Prasidh was later included in the India A team. After recovering from injury, Prasidh was able to take only seven wickets in the seven matches he played in Duleep Trophy, Irani Cup and Ranji Trophy. But it seems that the selectors want to take advantage of his tall stature on Australian pitches.
Apart from these three, players like captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, top-order batsman B Sai Sudarshan, fast bowlers Yash Dayal and Navdeep Saini and middle-order batsman Devdutt Padikkal would also like to knock on the doors of the national team by performing well. Wicketkeeper batsman Ishan Kishan will also try to take full advantage of this opportunity.
Where can you watch live
Indian fans wanting to watch the India A series may be disappointed as there is no official broadcaster in India to cover the series. However, commentary for all matches will be available on Cricket Australia's official website, cricket.com.au, while it will be streamed on the CA Live app.
In Australia, Kayo Sports and Fox Cricket (501) will be live streaming the series, allowing local viewers to watch the action. At the same time, the intra-squad match between the Indian senior team players and India A, which will focus on the preparations for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, will neither be streamed nor will there be any live coverage. There will be no presence of fans during this period.
The schedule is like this
31 October-03 November – 1st Unofficial Test – Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay – 5:30 am (IST)
07 October-10 November – 2nd Unofficial Test – Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne – 5 am (Indian Time)
Both teams are like this
The squad is as follows: India A: Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), Abhimanyu Easwaran (vice-captain), Devdutt Padikkal, Sai Sudarshan, B Inderjeet, Abhishek Porel (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Mukesh Kumar, Ricky Bhui, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Manav Suthar, Navdeep Saini, Khalil Ahmed, Tanush Kotian, Prasidh Krishna.
Australia A: Nathan McSweeney (captain), Cameron Bancroft, Scott Boland, Jordan Buckingham, Cooper Connolly, Ollie Davis, Brendan Doggett, Marcus Harris, Sam Konstas, Nathan McAndrew, Michael Neser, Todd Murphy, Fergus O'Neill, Jimmy Pearson, Josh Phillippe, Corey Rocchioli, Beau Webster.
(With inputs from IANS)
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