Nasir expects 'tough battle'
As opposed to reports published in the Indian media, the India A squad for the series against Bangladesh did not include a host of senior players.
Speculations that the likes of Virat Kohli, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ajinkya Rahane would feature in the second string Indian line-up -- in a bid to warm up for their series against South Africa next month -- were put to rest when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the squad yesterday.
India A's three-day squad will see left-arm opener Shikhar Dhawan leading Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Aaron and Shreyas Iyer, among others.
The one-day squad will be led by Unmukt Chand and will also include national players such as Suresh Raina and Dhawal Kulkarni.
The squad may not be as strong as the Indian media initially speculated, that however didn't make any difference to Bangladesh A vice-captain Nasir Hossain, who expects the upcoming series to be a 'tough battle' between the sides.
"We have a number of national players in our side, but it won't be an easy tour. India will come hard at us and I think it will be a good contest," Nasir told reporters before practice at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.
In contrast to India's line-up, the visitors have included just one uncapped player.
"The reason why there are so many national players in the side is because we are looking at this series as preparation for the Australia series. If we can play well here, it will help us against the Aussies," explained Nasir.
"It's a good thing that the three-day matches [against Karnataka and India A] are taking place at the end of the tour because we will be playing the Tests against Australia immediately after that," he added.
The 15 players due to tour India will miss the first few rounds of the National Cricket League (NCL), which begins on September 18. Nasir however, felt that the players wouldn't be too disappointed.
"I think this [India] series will be a better opportunity than the NCL. After all, we are playing against India in India. It will be a tough fight and there will be a lot more focus on that," said Nasir.
Kedar Jadhav, Manish Pandey and Sanju Samson -- who played in India's recent series in Zimbabwe -- have also been included in the one-day squad for this series.
Also in the side is leg-spinner Karn Sharma, who missed the Zimbabwe tour due to injury.
The three one-day fixtures will be played on September 16, 18 and 20 and the second three-day match will start on September 27, all in Bangalore against India A. They play the first three-dayer against Karnataka in Mysore from September 22.
THREE-DAY SQUAD
Shikhar Dhawan (captain), Abhinav Mukund, Karun Nair, Shreyas Iyer, Baba Aparajith, Naman Ojha, Jayant Yadav, Vijay Shankar, Ravindra Jadeja, Shreyas Gopal, Abhimanyu Mithun, Varun Aaron, Ishwar Pandey, Sheldon Jackson.
ONE-DAY SQUAD
Unmukt Chand (captain), Mayank Agarwal, Manish Pandey, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, Sanju Samson, Karun Nair, Kuldeep Yadav, Jayant Yadav, Karn Sharma, Rishi Dhawan, Sreenath Aravind, Dhawal Kulkarni, Rush Kalaria, Gurkeerat Singh Mann.
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