Follow UsKuldeep Yadav, after he warmed the bench in the third T20I of the five-match T20I series against Australia on November 2 (Sunday) at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart, would now have to fly back home.
The left-arm wristspinner was released from the Indian T20 squad after a request from the senior men’s team management, which wanted the bowler to get red-ball practice ahead of the team’s two-match Test series against defending World Test Champions South Africa.
Kuldeep has been drafted into the India A squad for the second four-day game against South Africa A, which begins on November 6th at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
“The Indian team management has requested to release Kuldeep Yadav from the ongoing T20I series in Australia to allow him to participate in the India A series against South Africa A at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru,” BCCI said in a statement.
“The decision has been taken to provide Kuldeep with red-ball game time in preparation for the upcoming IDFC First Bank two-match Test series against South Africa."
The India A squad already has Harsh Dubey, Tanush Kotian and Manav Suthar as spin bowling options.
This match would also see KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Akash Deep join the A team. Players like Ayush Mhatre, Ayush Badoni, Anshul Kamboj and Rajat Patidar, who were part of the playing 11 in the first four-day game, will make way for the new inclusion.
India A won the first four-day game in a thrilling manner by three wickets with key contributions from bowling all-rounders, Kamboj, Kotian, and Suthar, apart from a 90 from captain and wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant.
India’s updated squad for 4th and 5th T20I: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (VC), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar.
India A’s updated squad for 2nd four-day game: Rishabh Pant (C) (WK), KL Rahul, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Sai Sudharsan (VC), Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Harsh Dubey, Tanush Kotian, Manav Suthar, Khaleel Ahmed, Gurnoor Brar, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Kuldeep Yadav