Bengal opener Abhimanyu Easwaran and pacer Ishan Porel have been included in the India A squad for South Africa tour. The team will play three four-day matches against South Africa A in Bloemfontein from November 23, November 29 and December 6.
The 14-member squad will be led by Priyank Panchal.
Easwaran played his first match against Karnataka in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 meet on Tuesday. His 51 not out turned out to be a match-winning knock as Bengal defeated Karnataka to make the quarter finals.
Easwaran has been a regular with the India A squad and has performed creditably both at home and away. He was also part of the senior squad during India’s last tour of England.
Jammu & Kashmir fast bowler Umran Malik and Karnataka opener Devdutt Padikkal have found berths in the India A squad.
The 21-year-old Malik, a right-arm pacer, has played just one List A and eight T20 matches. He has not played any red-ball game.
The youngster from Jammu had been impressive with his raw pace during the second leg of the IPL in the UAE last month. He had clocked 152.95kmph — the fastest of the tournament — during Sunrisers Hyderabad’s game against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
INDIA A SQUAD
Priyank Panchal (captain), Prithvi Shaw, Abhimanyu Easwaran,
Devdutt Padikkal, Sarfaraz Khan, Baba Aparajith, Upendra Yadav (wicket-keeper), K. Gowtham, Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Umran Malik, Ishan Porel, Arzan Nagwaswalla.
