There will be a welcome Christmas bonus for the South Africa A squad when they host India A in two four-day matches later this month.
With the Proteas playing very little Test cricket in the ICC calendar year, the national team’s Test head coach, Shukri Conrad, says it is a godsend that the second-string SA A squad is getting more games. This will help widen his selection group for the Proteas and prepare the players for the international scene.
India will bring a total 44 players in December, to play in the T20s, ODIs and Tests, and for the India A side.
In the past, the South Africa A team has struggled for game time compared with financial powerhouses England, Australia and India. But CSA has shifted more weight to the SA A scale and this year the second-string squad has played Sri Lanka and the West Indies.
They are playing more games than the national side in Test cricket, who have faced one nation, and Conrad, who took over as coach of the five-day side in 2023, said, given his team's inactivity, this is a blessing as he aims to improve squad depth for the long format.
According to The Times of India, the India A team will play two four-day matches later this month at venues yet to be confirmed and the tour will run alongside India’s senior side’s tour of South Africa.
Indian Premier League and Ranchi Trophy household name Sarfaraz Khan from Mumbai, along with Prasidh Krishna and Tushar Deshpande are part of the squad for the first match scheduled from December 11 to 14.
The second match is from December 26 to 29 and will see the India A side include Washington Sundar, Axar Patel and Navdeep Saini, who have all tasted Test cricket.
The India A team will also play a fixture against the Indian Test squad between the two matches against their South African counterparts.
The SA20 tournament will feature the majority of the Proteas’ front-line Test squad, which means they will be unavailable for the tour of New Zealand in February. Conrad will use the India A tour to determine the makeup of his squad to travel to the land of the long white cloud.
“It is much easier to arrange SA A tours than Test cricket,” Conrad said while he was in East London for SA A’s second unofficial Test against West Indies A.
“CSA have been great in ensuring that the SA A side gets great content because the Proteas play less Test cricket these days.
“It is a good opportunity for our young players and for guys that are in the mix.
“India coming here now, it will be good for the guys because they [India] have great quality players and will put up a good show and test the SA A guys.
“We are not sure how many guys from the West Indies A games will be playing in that because we want to give some new guys chances as well, he said.”
India A squads for South Africa tour:
First four-day game, December 11-14: Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran,
Devdutt Padikkal, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, Sarfaraz Khan, KS Bharat (C)(wk), Dhruv Jurel, Shardul Thakur, Pulkit Narang, Sourabh Kumar, Manav Suthar, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Tushar Deshpande.
Inter-squad three-day game, India vs India A, December 20-22: Rohit Sharma,
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, KS Bharat (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk),
Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pulkit Narang, Harshit Rana, Shardul Thakur, Sourabh Kumar, Manav Suthar, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep,
Vidhwath Kaverappa, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini.
Third 4-Day, December 26-29: Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Ruturaj Gaikwad,
Tilak Varma, KS Bharat (C)(wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel,
Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, Akash Deep, Vidhwath Kaverappa,
Navdeep Saini
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.