KL Rahul and Dhruv Jurel added to India A squad

The Men’s Selection Committee have added KL Rahul and Dhruv Jurel to the India A squad for the second first-class game against Australia A starting on Thursday, November 07, at the MCG, Melbourne. Earlier, Prasidh Krishna was added to the squad as a replacement for Yash Dayal, who was named in India’s T20I squad for the tour of South Africa.

Notably, KL Rahul is assumed to be the opener alongside Abhimanyu Easwaran. The strategic change in the batting order comes amid the expected unavailability of Rohit Sharma for the Perth Test in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, starting November 22. Meanwhile, captain Ruturaj Gaikwad will demote himself down the order and vacate the spot for Rahul, who may be seen opening in Rohit's absence.

Though the squad has names like Ishan Kishan and Abishek Porel, the latest inclusion of Jurel will see him don the gloves ahead of the two.

India A squad for 2nd first-class game:

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, Navdeep Saini, Manav Suthar, Tanush Kotian, Prasidh Krishna, KL Rahul, Dhruv Jurel (wk)

Speaking of the upcoming game, the visiting side will be entering the 'G' on the back of a underwhelming performance in the opening encounter of the tour. Meanwhile, the Australian side will be confident of toppling Ruturaj Gaikwad & Co. once again in the forthcoming clash.

Also, this will be the last fixture of India A, since their intra-squad game against the senior India side, which was supposed to be played just before the first Test of the series, has been scrapped by the BCCI.

Coming to BGT 2024-25, Aussies will be hosting India for a five-match Test series, which also includes the Boxing Day Test at the MCG (fourth Test) and the New Year's Test at the historic Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).