New Delhi: With an aim to prepare him for the Test format, leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was named Monday in the India A team for the two four-day matches against South Africa A, starting August 4. The selection committee meeting took place in Kolkata.
Chahal, who has been an automatic choice in the limited overs format has not played any first-class cricket since December 2016 (against Haryana in Ranji Trophy), but the Indian team management and especially skipper Virat Kohli has indicated that he wants the wiry leg-spinner for five-day matches also.
Sources indicated that the Indian team management will slowly ease Ravindra Jadeja out of the Test squad if Chahal is successful in the longer version of the game, the first of which will be played in in Belgaum (August 4-7) followed by the second in Bangalore (August 10-13).
“This is an ideal opportunity to test him (Chahal). Even if he is not picked for last two Tests against England, selectors might try him against West Indies at home,” a source close to the selection committee told this agency.
The squad: Shreyas Iyer (C), Prithvi Shaw, Ravikumar Samarth, Mayank Agarwal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Hanuma Vihari, Ankit Bawne, Kona Bharat, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jayant Yadav, Rajneesh Gurbani, Navdeep Saini, Ankit Rajpoot, Mohammed Siraj and Axar Patel (1st game)/Shahbaz Nadeem (2nd game).
