Ruturaj Gaikwad to lead India A on Australia tour, Ishan Kishan named wicketkeeper

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) named a 15-member India A squad for the Australia tour on Monday, October 21.Ruturaj Gaikwad is set to lead the team while Ishan Kishan has been also picked as a wicketkeeper along with Abhishek Porel. Gaikwad has been in stellar form in the ongoing Ranji Trophy as he scored a brilliant 86 in the season opener against Jammu & Kashmir followed by a magnificent 145 against Mumbai.
On the other hand, Kishan has been toiling hard in domestic cricket to earn his spot back in the Indian team after losing his central contract earlier this year. The wicketkeeper batter recently scored a century for Jharkhand against Railways and earlier also slammed tons in Duleep Trophy and the Buchi Babu Memorial tournament.
Bengal batter Abhimanyu Easwaran who’s been on a prolific run in domestic cricket has been named as the vice captain of the team. Easwaran recently notched up back-to-back four hundreds in four first class matches to grab the eyes of the selectors.
Sai Sudharsan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Devdutt Padikkal, Ricky Bhui, Baba Indrajith among others have been also named in the squad. Mukesh Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal and Navdeep Saini have been picked as seamers spinner Manav Suthar and all-rounder Tanush Kotian form the spin attack.
India A will play two first-class matches against Australia A in Mackay and Melbourne respectively beginning from October 31. The team will further take part in a three-day intra-squad game against Team India (Senior Men) in Perth which will serve as their warm-up game ahead of the five-match Test series against Australia.
India A squad for the tour of Australia: Ruturaj Gaikwad (C), Abhimanyu Easwaran (VC), Sai Sudharsan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Devdutt Padikkal, Ricky Bhui, Baba Indrajith, Ishan Kishan (WK), Abishek Porel (WK), Mukesh Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal, Navdeep Saini, Manav Suthar, Tanush Kotian