A day after BCCI announced India’s Test squad for the New Zealand series, it is time for the young guns. We have ourselves the India ‘A’ 15-member squad for the upcoming Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2024. IPL superstars headline this squad, selected by BCCI, with Tilak Varma leading the pack. For those unaware, Emerging Asia is a tournament, organised by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in order to provide youngsters with a high-quality platform to compete against Asia’s best young talents.
Tilak Varma heads a talent-filled India ‘A’ squad
The India ‘A’ squad is power-packed with T20 talent, none bigger than Abhishek Sharma. The southpaw, who is part of the current Indian T20I team just had an ordinary series against Bangladesh, scoring just 35 runs in 3 innings. However, the talent that he possesses is second to none, with Abhishek hammering 484 runs at a strike rate of 204.22 in this year’s IPL for SRH. Apart from this, Ayush Badoni had a superlative DPLT20, taking his team to the final. Prabhsimran Singh, Nehal Wadhera and Ramandeep Singh are the other ball-strikers, all hailing from Punjab. The designated skipper Tilak Varma has already played in the men’s senior Asia Cup for India. The MI batter recently replaced injured Shivam Dube in the national setup.
Among the bowlers are Anshul Kamboj (who had a superb Duleep Trophy), Sai Kishore (a renowned domestic spinner), Vaibhav Arora (impressed at KKR), Rahul Chahar (skilful spinner & who has played for India). All in all, this 15-member squad oozes talent and is now firm favourites to win the all-important Emerging Asia Cup. Interestingly, none of the senior team regulars like Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad or Shreyas Iyer got a gig, despite ACC relaxing the age bar from the tournament.
The focus of the tournament, the highly anticipated India vs Pakistan match, will take place on October 19 at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground Oman Cricket (Ministry Turf 1) in Oman. In the previous edition’s final, Pakistan A beat India A by 128 run
India ‘A’ squad for Emerging Teams Asia Cup
Tilak Varma (C), Abhishek Sharma, Ayush Badoni, Nishant Sindhu, Ramandeep Singh, Anuj Rawat, Prabhsimran Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Anshul Kamboj, Hrithik Shokeen, Aaqib Khan, Vaibhav Arora, Rasikh Dar Salam, Sai Kishore, Rahul Chahar
Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2024 teams
- Group A: Sri Lanka A, Bangladesh A, Afghanistan A, Hong Kong
- Group B: India A, Pakistan A, UAE, Oman