Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will make his debut for India-A in the List A format during the opening game of the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh against Sri Lanka-A at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium on Tuesday (June 9).
The 15-year-old plays under Tilak Varma’s leadership in the tri-series, which also involves the Afghanistan-A team.
With Prabsimran Singh set to be the first-choice wicket-keeper batter, he should likely get the chance to open the batting with Vaibhav, which means that Priyansh Arya could miss out of a starting spot despite scoring a century in his only outing for India-A in List A cricket so far against Australia A in Kanpur last year.
Ruturaj Gaikwad received a late call-up after an injury to Riyan Parag and should get the chance to bat at number three, as he is the vice-captain of the team too. The star batter was the Player of the Series (POTS) in the India A team’s last assignment in the 50-over format against South Africa A. In fact, he has a world record average of 58.83 in the List A format.
Skipper Tilak, alongside Ayush Badoni and Nishant Sindhu, should form the middle order and bat at numbers 4, 5, and 6. Ankul Roy, Arshad Khan, and Vipraj Nigam appear as the prime contenders to be the all-rounders of the team and bat at numbers 6, 7, and 8. This will also give the Indian team a left-arm pacer as well as a left-arm spinner and wrist spinner. Anshul Kamboj and Yash Thakur are set to be the team’s two frontline pacers.
India Likely XI For 1st Tri-Series Match vs Sri Lanka-A: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Prabhisimran Singh (WK), Ruturaj Gaikwad (VC), Tilak Varma (C), Ayush Badoni, Nishant Sindhu, Vipraj Nigam, Ankul Roy, Arshad Khan, Yash Thakur, Anshul Kambok
India A Squad for Tri-Series: Tilak Varma (capt), Ruturaj Gaikwad (vice-capt), Priyansh Arya, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ayush Badoni, Nishant Sindhu, Suryansh Shedge, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Kumar Kushagra (wk), Vipraj Nigam, Yash Thakur, Yudhvir Singh, Anshul Kamboj, Arshad Khan, Anukul Roy