Gujarat’s Priyank Panchal was named captain as the All-India Senior Selection Committee picked the India A squad for the South Africa tour scheduled to start from 23 November in Bloemfontein.

The 31-year-old Panchal is currently leading the Gujarat team in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy T20. Gujarat have qualified for the quarterfinals as toppers of Group D.

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The team will play three four-day matches during the tour. The Indian senior team is set to tour South Africa for their next assignment.

Jammu and Kashmir pacer Umran Malik was also picked. The 21-year-old, a right-arm pacer, has played just one List A and eight T20 matches so far in his career. He has not played any red-ball game.

Malik caught attention with his raw pace during IPL 2021 in UAE. He had clocked 152.95 kph – the fastest delivery of the tournament – during Sunrisers Hyderabad’s game against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Other members of the squad include batters Prithvi Shaw, Abhimanyu Easwaran and Devdutt Padikkal and bowlers Navdeep Saini and Rahul Chahar.

India A squad for South Africa tour: Priyank Panchal (c), Prithvi Shaw, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Sarfaraz Khan, Baba Aparajith, Upendra Yadav (wk), K Gowtham, Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Umran Malik, Ishan Porel, Arzan Nagwaswalla.

India A tour of South Africa

Day Date Match Venue
Tue-Fri 23rd to 26th Nov 2021 1st Four-day Match Bloemfontein
Mon-Thu 29th Nov to 2nd Dec 2021 2nd Four-day Match Bloemfontein
Mon-Thu 6th to 9th Dec 2021 3rd Four-day Match Bloemfontein

Inputs from PTI