Persistent rains forces rescheduling of India 'A'-New Zealand 'A' unofficial ODIs

Due to heavy rains in Visakhapatnam, the second and third unofficial ODI series between India ‘A’ and New Zealand ‘A’ has been rescheduled. The first match of the series was scheduled to start from the Friday, October 6, but was abandoned due to rains without any deliveries being bowled.

Previously, the second and third matches were scheduled to be played on October 8 and October 10. Instead, these matches would be held on October 10 and 11. With the postponing of these matches, the fourth and fifth match of the unofficial ODI series now will be played on October 13 and 15 respectively,

As the New Zealand team is coming from an off-season, with the Kiwi last featuring in the Champions Trophy back in June, the management sent players from the core group of players in the senior team to gain some necessary match practice.

Initially, there was no reserve day planned for the matches. But, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) insisted for game time for the players. As a result, the authorities had to comply with the request from the New Zealand ‘A’ management.

Deepak Hooda and Ankit Bawne have found their place into the squad for the upcoming series. Punjab batter Shubham Gill would be missing out of the first three matches of the series and has been replaced by Delhi Daredevils and Maharashtra batsman Ankit Bawne who scored a century in the second unofficial Test against New Zealand A. He was scheduled to join the team for the last two games of the series

India Squad for first three games:

Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Shreyas Iyer (capt), Deepak Hooda, Ankit Bawne, Shreevats Goswami (wk), Shahbaz Nadeem, Karn Sharma, Vijay Shankar, Shardul Thakur, Siddarth Kaul, Mohammed Siraj, Basil Thampi.

India Squad for last two games:

Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prashant Chopra, Ankit Bawne, Deepak Hooda, B Aparajith, Rishabh Pant (capt, wk), Shahbaz Nadeem, Karn Sharma, Vijay Shankar, Shardul Thakur, Siddarth Kaul, Mohammed Siraj, Basil Thampi.

New Zealand ‘A’ squad:

Henry Nicholls(c), Todd Astle, Tom Blundell(w), Tom Bruce, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Scott Kuggeleijn, Colin Munro, Glenn Phillips, Seth Rance, Jeet Raval, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Sean Solia, George Worker, Will Young, Colin de Grandhomme