Kuldeep Yadav to join India A squad to face Australia A in four-day games

Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, who impressed in the ODI series against England, grabbing nine wickets from three games, had a rather forgetful outing in his lone Test match on English soil, in which he returned with figures of 9-1-44-0. The Indian selectors sensing that they wouldn’t need an extra spinner in the last couple of Tests sent him back to India and instead added batsman Hanuma Vihari to the team.

The next time he will take the field for Team India will be in the Asia Cup but with a couple of weeks to go for the next big assignment, the team management wants Kuldeep to still be in action. Thus he will now be a part of the India A team for the two four-day Tests against Australia A which will begin in Bangalore next week.

“Kuldeep has been sent back (from England). (This was done) considering the conditions there and keeping the Asia Cup and two Tests (against West Indies) in mind,” chairman of selectors, MSK Prasad told the media. “We felt that it is better for him to get some game time. He will be picked for the two Tests against Australia A, that will help him prepare for the Asia Cup and the West Indies series,” he added.

Players hoping to impress national selectors 

Hopefully, a good showing in the series will earn Kuldeep a recall in the Test squad that will face West Indies at home. Also, the likes of Mohammed Siraj, Shreyas Iyer and Mayank Agarwal will be hoping to do well against Australia A to make it to the Asia Cup squad and squads to face West Indies, which will be announced in the due course. As for Australia A players, this two-match series is a nice platform to catch the national selectors’ attention for the Pakistan Test series in the UAE.

While the Asia Cup will be played in the UAE in September, West Indies will be in India in October for a tour comprising two Tests, five ODIs and three T20Is.

Kuldeep, on his Test debut in March 2017 against Australia, claimed 4 for 68 in the first innings and so far he has nine wickets from three Tests at an economy rate of 3.44.

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