Ruturaj Gaikwad in new role for India: The India National Cricket Team will be facing the Afghanistan National Cricket Team for a one-off Test and an ODI series. However, the India A side will be travelling for the tri-series in Sri Lanka. Ahead of the series, there has been an injury replacement on the Men in Blue side as Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag, who was added, has been out injured.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain Ruturaj Gaikwad has been added as the replacement. He replaces vice-captain Riyan Parag, who has been ruled out of the series due to a hamstring injury. The latter will be doing his rehabilitation and will be managed by the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE). This is a good opportunity for the CSK captain ahead of the 2027 World Cup.
Ruturaj Gaikwad in new role for India A
Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has not been added to the main squad despite his good performance in the last series vs South Africa, where he played a key role in the No.4 position in the absence of Shreyas Iyer, was dropped after that in the following series against New Zealand. He will be the vice-captain in the India A side.
Ruturaj, who did not have the best of IPL, will look to come back in form, especially keeping in mind the ODI World Cup next year in South Africa, as he might get a chance as a back-up to Shreyas Iyer, with experience playing in that position earlier, and will look to force the selectors to look at him incase he makes a good performance in the upcoming series.
Updated India A squad for tri-series: Tilak Varma (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad (vice-captain), Priyansh Arya, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ayush Badoni, Nishant Sindhu, Suryansh Shedge, Prabhsimran Singh (WK), Kumar Kushagra (WK), Vipraj Nigam, Yash Thakur, Yudhvir Singh, Anshul Kamboj, Arshad Khan, Anukul Roy
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