Anukul drafted into India A squad for one-dayers against Australia A as Dhir’s replacement

Puducherry: Left-arm spin bowling all-rounder Anukul Roy has been drafted into the India A squad for the upcoming three-match one-day series against Australia A as a replacement for Naman Dhir, who was called up to the senior men’s T20I team for the five-game series against the West Indies.

Dhir was included in India's T20I squad for the matches against the West Indies as a replacement for off-spin bowling all-rounder Washington Sundar, who was released to play Ranji Trophy for Tamil Nadu ahead of India's Test tour of New Zealand, happening next month.

“Anukul was in Srinagar as a member of the Rest of India Irani Cup team, before travelling to Puducherry to join the India A squad after Naman was called up for the upcoming senior men’s T20I team duty,” a source privy to the developments told IANS on Sunday.

Anukul, who plays for Jharkhand in domestic cricket, was a member of India A squad in the 50-over tri-series in Sri Lanka in June, where he played five games and had the highest score of 39 with the bat and took seven wickets in all for the visitors to win the trophy.

He then turned out for East Zone in their victorious Duleep Trophy campaign – making scores of 37, 16, 0, 45 and 64 with the bat while picking seven wickets, including a five-for against North East Zone.

Previously, seam-bowling all-rounder Suryansh Shedge has been drafted into the India A squad as a replacement for injured Hardik Pandya, who is down with a right medial tibial stress syndrome.

The three-match unofficial ODI series between India A and Australia A begins at the Cricket Association Puducherry Siechem Ground on Tuesday with a start time of 2pm, while subsequent matches will take place on October 9 and 11 respectively and begin from 9am.

India A skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad will link up after being a part of India’s 2-1 ODI series win over the West Indies, while Vipraj Nigam and Yash Thakur are scheduled to arrive after being a part of Asian Games gold medal winning team.

Updated India A squad: Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), Priyansh Arya, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal (vice-captain), Rajat Patidar, Kumar Kushagra (wk), Nishant Sindhu, Vipraj Nigam, Arshin Kulkarni, Arshad Khan, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Gurjapneet Singh, Yash Thakur, Suryansh Shedge and Anukul Roy.

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