“Grateful and looking forward to this opportunity”: Priyank Panchal expresses excitement after being named India A captain for New Zealand A Tests

Priyank Panchal expresses excitement: The uncapped Indian cricketer will begin yet another ‘A’ series with an eye on Test debut.

The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named a strong 16-member India A squad for the upcoming three four-day match series against New Zealand.

Gujarat batter Priyank Panchal, who has played a total of 101 first-class matches, has retained his captaincy role from India A’s last assignment in South Africa in December 2021. Panchal, however, was replaced by Hanuma Vihari as the captain in the third match of the tour.

Panchal will continue to be accompanied by long-time India A teammate Abhimanyu Easwaran. Batter Sarfaraz Khan, wicket-keeper batter Upendra Yadav, spinners Rahul Chahar and Saurabh Kumar and fast bowlers Umran Malik and Arzan Nagwaswalla have all been retained for a home series.

Batter Ruturaj Gaikwad, spinner Kuldeep Yadav and fast bowler Prasidh Krishna, all of whom were part of the Indian squad during the recently concluded Zimbabwe tour, will play for India A next month. The trio will be joined by wicket-keeper batter Srikar Bharat, batters Rajat Patidar and Tilak Varma and pacers Mukesh Kumar and Yash Dayal as new entries to the India A squad.

Priyank Panchal expresses excitement after being named India A captain for New Zealand A Tests

Panchal, 32, took to social media platform Twitter to express excitement about returning to action after more than six months. Since South Africa tour last year, Panchal has played just one Ranji Trophy match.

It is noteworthy that Panchal’s 7,068 first-class runs have come at an average of 45.30 including 24 centuries and 26 half-centuries.

Apart from Vihari, batters Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Paddikal and Baba Aparajith, all-rounder Krishnappa Gowtham and fast bowlers Navdeep Saini and Ishan Porel were all part of the squad in South Africa but have been left out for this series.

India A squad for New Zealand series

Priyank Panchal (c), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraaz Khan, Tilak Varma, KS Bharat (wk), Upendra Yadav (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Saurabh Kumar, Rahul Chahar, Prasidh Krishna, Umran Malik, Mukesh Kumar, Yash Dayal, Arzan Nagwaswalla.