The national selection committee, headed by Sandeep Patil, picked a young India A squad full of IPL performers for the upcoming one-off warm-up T20 tour opener against the touring South African side scheduled to be played at the Air force Ground in Palam on September 29.
The selection committee however did not name any captain for the match.
While most of the 12-member side played at the India 'A' level, the newest entrants are leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal of Royal Challengers Bangalore, left-arm spinner Pawan Negi of Chennai Super Kings and one of last season's finds Hardik Pandya of Mumbai Indians.
The average age of the team is around 25 with the senior most being Kings XI Punjab and Railways pacer Anureet Singh at 27 and the youngest being chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav of KKR.
Former India U-23 captain and T20 specialist Suryakumar Yadav also made the cut. Mayank Agarwal, after a good time for India A in the List A games, was an automatic selection.
The only questionable selection in the squad was Punjab's Manan Vohra, who has not done anything either for Punjab in domestic cricket or Kings XI Punjab in IPL to warrant a place in the side. In the 10 T20 matches that Vohra played last season, not for once did he cross the individual score of 40.
India A: Mayank Agarwal, Manan Vohra, Manish Pandey, Mandeep Singh, Surya Kumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Hardik Pandya, Rishi Dhawan, Anureet Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Pawan Negi, Kuldeep Yadav.
