India A squad for 2024 tour of Australia: Tanush Kotian, Navdeep Saini make team

All-rounder Tanush Kotian and pacer Navdeep Saini were selected in the 15-member India A squad for the 2024 Australia tour which starts next week.

India A will play two four-day first-class matches against Australia A before a three-day intra-squad game against Team India, who will be in Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy starting November 22.

India A’s first match against Australia A will be played from October 31 to November 3 in Mackay, followed by a contest in Melbourne from November 7 to 10. The intra-squad game will be played in Perth from November 15 to 17.

Tanush Kotian, who plays for the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League, has been in good form this year.

The 26-year-old, currently playing for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 season, recorded his career-best match figures in first-class cricket against Baroda, earlier this month.

Tanush picked up 4/61 in the first innings to restrict Baroda to 290 and then registered 5/61 in the second innings to keep Mumbai in the contest.

The all-rounder was instrumental in helping India A win the Duleep Trophy earlier this year. He picked up 10 wickets from three matches at an average of 22.00 and also chipped in with the bat lower down the order.

Navdeep Saini, also a Rajasthan Royals player, is representing Delhi in the Ranji Trophy.

He returned with 3/36 in the second innings against Chhattisgarh in Raipur in Delhi’s opening game.

The 31-year-old right-arm fast bowler played for India B in the Duleep Trophy 2024 and finished amongst the top three wicket-takers in the tournament with 14 scalps from three matches. It included a five-for in the first innings against India D.

Navdeep made his Test debut against Australia in 2021 and had picked four wickets across two innings.

Ruturaj Gaikwad will lead the 15-member India A squad for the Australia tour.

India A squad for 2024 tour of Australia

India A cricket team: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Abhimanyu Easwaran (vc), Sai Sudharsan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Devdutt Padikkal, Ricky Bhui, Baba Indrajith, Ishan Kishan (wk), Abishek Porel (wk), Mukesh Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal, Navdeep Saini, Manav Suthar, Tanush Kotian.