CHENNAI: Due to a congestion in the fixtures, the Board President’s XI to take on the Australian side in a practice match in Chennai on September 12 will feature a very inexperienced side. Gurkeerat Singh Mann and Sandeep Sharma are the only players with international caps. Among the beneficiaries are Tamil Nadu’s Washington Sundar and Maharashtra’s Rahul Tripathi, who had a stellar IPL season with Rising Pune Supergiant.
The squad, yet to be announced, will have as coach former India batsman Hemang Badani, who recently led Chepauk Super Gillies to the title in the Tamil Nadu Premier League. Though some names in the squad come as a surprise, the BCCI and the selectors were left with little to choose from as most of the fringe players are part of the Duleep Trophy which started on Thursday.
“The idea was to field a strong squad for this fixture. But with Duleep Trophy in the calendar and India A set to play New Zealand A, we can do little about the non-availability of top domestic players.
It’s not that we have taken players randomly because this is an opportunity to test other players, who couldn’t make it to India A and other tournaments. Moreover, the team management has requested for a few options to be tested in certain areas and we have tried to give them those options,” a board official told Express.
Among those included is Kulwant Khejroliya, a left-arm pacer, who was part of the Delhi team in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and also made it to the India B squad for Deodhar Trophy.
The 25-year-old, thanks to his ability to bowl 140kmph, is one the selectors might try out in the home season which features series against Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. India’s bowling coach Bharathi Arun had spoken about having a left-armer in the side to bring variety.
“Kulwant might not have played much cricket, but there is a lot of potential in him. He has added more pace during the offseason and the selectors want to provide as many options as possible for the team management. There is a need to have a large pool and even Avesh Khan is one such selection, along with Sandeep,” the official added. Karnataka’s Mayank Agarwal, who despite having a good run with the A side was ignored for Duleep, finds a place alongside Shreevats Goswami.
Board President’s squad:
Rahul Tripathi, Mayank Agarwal, Shivam Chaudhary, Nitish Rana, Govind Poddar, Gurkeerat Mann, Shreevats Goswami, Akshay Karnewar, Kulwant Khejroliya, Krishang Patel, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Washington Sundar (in pic), Rahil Shah. Coach: Hemang Badani
venkatakrishna@newindianexpress.com