Dhoni and Rahane to lead India A in warm-up games

The Indian selectors sat down in the head quarters of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to select the Indian team for the ODI and T20I series against the visiting England team that starts from January 15. Since the team just wrapped up the Test series and they haven’t played a limited-overs game in months there are two warm-up matches for them ahead of the series.

India A will play England in the two practice games on – 10th and 12th January at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) ground in Mumbai. MSK Prasad & Co. has picked two different squads for both the matches. While the first team has players who have been in contention for the team the second gives an opportunity to the domestic performers.

Former Indian captain MS Dhoni will be leading the team in the first warm-up and has the likes of – Shikhar Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Hardik Pandya, Ashish Nehra and Mohit Sharma at his disposal who have been a part of the team in the past. Along with these names there are – Mandeep Singh, Sanju Samson, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Siddharth Kaul who are comparatively new names in the national scene and will be a great opportunity for them to impress the selectors on the big platform.

For the second match, Ajinkya Rahane who has been selected only for the ODI series will be captaining the team. Young Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Ishan Kishan, Sheldon Jackson, Vijay Shankar, Shahbaz Nadeem are the new faces in the team who are yet to make their debut for the Men in Blue. There is also the veteran Suresh Raina who has been in and out of the team of late. It is another opportunity for Parvez Rasool, Vinay Kumar and Ashok Dinda while Pradeep Sangwan has also been named as the 3rd pacer in the team.

Also read- Virat Kohli to lead 15-man Indian squad for the ODI and T20I series against England

India A team for 1st warm-up tie:

Shikhar Dhawan, Mandeep Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (C), Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ashish Nehra, Mohit Sharma, Siddharth Kaul

India A team for 2nd warm-up tie:

Rishabh Pant, Ajinkya Rahane (C), Suresh Raina, Deepak Hooda, Ishan Kishan, Sheldon Jackson, Vijay Shankar, Shahbaz Nadeem, Parvez Rasool, Vinay Kumar, Pradeep Sangwan, Ashok Dinda