Mumbai: Madhya Pradesh wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha will lead a squad of 15 members to the more-than-half-month tour of Australia starting on August 14. India are scheduled to play two unofficial Test match and also take part in a quadrangular one-day tournament. Rahul Dravid has been announced the coach of India A, as expected.
Perhaps keeping in mind, Ojha’s superb performance in Australia while turning out for India A he has been given the charge of leading the side this time. He scored a double hundred and a century in the four-dayers.
The 15-member party comprised of mainly the players who just toured Zimbabwe under Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s leadership. As many nine players selected were part of India A side last month. Dhoni’s men won both the ODI and T20 series in the African nation.
Shreyas Iyer, who scored the highest number of runs in the Ranji Trophy last season, also found a place in the team along with few known faces like Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat et al. The two unofficial Test matches are scheduled to be held from September 8-11 and September 15-18 in Brisbane.
India A kicks off its campaign with the quadrangular series, also involving South Africa ‘A’, Australia ‘A’ and Cricket Australia’s National Performance Squad. The one-dayers will be followed by the two Test matches.
The Squad: Naman Ojha (captain), Faiz Fazal, Akhil Herwadkar, Shreyas Iyer, Karun Nair, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Vijay Shankar, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat, Barinder Sran, Shahbaz Nadeem, Sanju Samson. Coach: Rahul Dravid