India 'A' camp kicks off in Bangalore

The preparatory camp for the Australia-bound India ‘A’ team commenced here at the National Cricket Academy here on Monday. 

Led by Manoj Tiwary, the squad is scheduled to play two four-day matches in Brisbane with the first game scheduled begin on July 6. The second match will be held from July 13-16.

The four-day games will be followed by a quadrangular one-day tournament, also involving a South Africa ‘A’ side and two Australian teams. The one-day squad will be led by Robin Uthappa who is also part of the four-day set-up. The current camp is meant only for those who have been picked for the four-day games.

“It is a fine opportunity to have this camp here as most of the players are coming in after playing one-day matches and Twenty20 like the Bangladesh tour and the IPL,” said coach Lalchand Rajput, elaborating on the purpose of the nine-day camp.

“So this camp will help the players to get back to the game’s longer version. This will be a skill-based camp and we also hope to have a two-day practice game. We didn’t have the players, who are exclusively part of the squad for the quadrangular series, as then the numbers would have been high and we wouldn’t be able to focus more on individual players. The one-day specialists will join us directly in Australia,” he remarked.

The team (from): India ‘A’: Manoj Tiwary (captain), K L Rahul, Jiwanjot Singh, Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, Karun Nair, Naman Ojha, Pragyan Ojha, Umesh Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Anureet Singh, Rajat Paliwal, Amit Mishra, Sandeep Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Baba Aparajith.