Opening batter Ruturaj Gaikwad has replaced injured Riyan Parag in India-A squad for the T20I tri-series involving A teams of hosts Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. Parag, who led his IPL franchise, the Rajasthan Royals, to the playoffs this season, is out with a hamstring injury he suffered midway through the tournament. He also missed a few matches due to his lingering hamstring issue. The BCCI made an official statement on Sunday (May 31).
Parag was named the vice-captain for the tri-series and will now undergo rehabilitation at BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru. Gaikwad, however, replaces him as the team’s vice-captain.
Tilak Varma (captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad (vice-captain), Priyansh Arya, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ayush Badoni, Nishant Sindhu, Suryansh Shedge, Prabhsimran Singh, Kumar Kushagra, Vipraj Nigam, Yash Thakur, Yudhvir Singh, Anshul Kamboj, Arshad Khan and Anukul Roy
The tri-series gets underway on June 9 at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, with each team facing each other twice. The final will take place on June 21.
After demolishing most batting records during the ongoing IPL edition, RR opener Sooryavanshi created headlines all over. Not only did he break Chris Gayle’s long-standing record of most sixes hit in a season, surpassing his 59 sixes tally, but he also finished with the most runs scored in this edition. Gujarat Titans (GT) openers Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan are, however, close to surpassing Vaibhav’s runs tally (776 runs).
Punjab Kings (PBKS) opening batting pair of opener Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya has made the squad, with GT batter Nishant Sindhu also finding a place in the 15-man team. Fellow PBKS middle-order batter Suryansh Shedge, alongside Delhi Capitals duo of Ayush Badoni and Vipraj Nigam, has been picked.
Gaikwad’s CSK teammate and seamer Anshul Kamboj will lead the pace attack.
