Naman Ojha dropped from India A squad; Manish Pandey to lead

Veteran domestic wicketkeeper batsman Naman Ojha, who was supposed to lead the India A was dropped from the squad for the quadrangular series in Australia. Middle order Batsman Manish Pandey will lead the squad according to a report in The New India Express, Ojha has been dropped from the squad and will travel to Australia only in September for the four-day games.

He has been a consistent performer in domestic cricket and despite being 33 is quite agile behind the wicket. The news of his axing was thus a surprise for him and for his fans.

“Selectors have made four changes in the team (India A) and now I will go only for the four-day matches. Mera naam hatake unhone four changes kiya hai (they’ve removed me and made four changes), I was told two days ago,” Ojha told the English daily.

Along with Ojha, Shahbaz Nadeem, Vijay Shankar, and Akhil Herwadkar will not feature in the India A squad for the quadrangular series. Yuzvendra Chahal, Mandeep Singh, and Hardik Pandya will be the replacement for the three and Pandey will lead the squad for the limited-overs tournament and Ojha will take over during the four-day games.

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All the four dropped players were a part of the India A strength and conditioning camp at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore earlier this month. The team will leave for Australia on August 4 and the India A coach, Rahul Dravid will leave only after 5 days since he will spend some time with his ailing mother.

Australia A, South Africa A, and National Performance Squad will be the 3 other teams to feature in the quadrangular series, starting on August 13.

India A Squad for limited-overs series:

Manish Pandey (C), Faiz Fazal, Mandeep Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Karun Nair, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat, Barinder Sran, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sanju Samson.

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