BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia said Pant, 29, remains under the medical team’s supervision, with a final call on his participation in the third match starting on October 7 in Lincoln to be taken later. Wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant has been ruled out of India A’s first two matches on the upcoming tour of New Zealand due to a left-side strain, with young keeper-batter Kumar Kushagra named as his replacement in the updated squad, the BCCI announced on Monday. Pant, whose availability for the tour was subject to fitness after catching viral fever while leading the rest of India in the Irani Cup clash against Ranji Trophy winners Jammu & Kashmir at the Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium in Srinagar. “He remains under the care of the BCCI Medical Team and is recovering well.
Kushagra, the 21-year-old Jharkhand keeper-batter, will join the Dhruv Jurel-led squad for India A’s red-ball shadow tour alongside international stars like Yashasvi Jaiswal, B Sai Sudharsan, KL Rahul, Auqib Nabi, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Manav Suthar, and Washington Sundar. India A updated squad: Dhruv Jurel (captain & wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Ravichandran Smaran, Washington Sundar, Auqib Nabi, Akash Deep, Anshul Kamboj, Manav Suthar, Mukesh Choudhary, B Sai Sudharsan, Yash Rathod, Mukesh Kumar, and Kumar Kushagra (wk) (1st and 2nd matches).
