Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced India A squad for the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Men's Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2023. Former Under-19 T20 World Cup-winning captain Dhull will lead the side in Sri Lanka for the eight-nation tournament from July 13 to 23 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
While Abhishek Sharma has been named Dhull's deputy, Chennai-born batter Sai Sudharsan who dazzled for Gujarat Titans (GT) in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 final with record-breaking 96 has been named in the squad as well. Sudharsan has been in stupendous form of late. After IPL 2023, he is currently the leading run-scorer in Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL). Playing for Shahrukh Khan-led Lyca Kovai Kings, he has scored 371 runs from six innings at an average of 74.20 including four half-centuries.
Mumbai Indians (MI) batter Nehal Wadhera is one of three players in standby list. Wadhera had scored 241 runs from 14 matches in his debut IPL season at an average of 26.78 including two half-centuries.
India A have been placed in Group B with Nepal A, UAE A and Pakistan A. India A will begin their Asia Cup campaign against UAE A on July 13. Then India A will take on Pakistan A on July 15. Their last group stage encounter is against Nepal A on July 18. The two semi-finals will be played on July 21 whereas the final will take place on July 23.
Pakistan are the reigning champions of Emerging Asia Cup. They beat Bangladesh in the final of 2019 edition. India won the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2013 by beating Pakistan. The next two editions in 2017 and 2018 were won by Sri Lanka.
India A squad: Sai Sudharsan, Abhishek Sharma (VC), Nikin Jose, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, Yash Dhull (C), Riyan Parag, Nishant Sindhu, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Manav Suthar, Yuvrajsinh Dodiya, Harshit Rana, Akash Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Rajvardhan Hangargekar
Standby list of players: Harsh Dubey, Nehal Wadhera, Snell Patel, Mohit Redkar
Coaching Staff: Sitanshu Kotak (Head Coach), Sairaj Bahutule (Bowling Coach), Munish Bali (Fielding Coach)
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