Anukul Roy drafted into India A squad for Australia A one-dayers

Left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder Anukul Roy has been added to the India A squad for the three-match unofficial ODI series against Australia A as a replacement for Naman Dhir.

Dhir was called up to India’s senior men’s T20I squad for the five-match series against the West Indies after Washington Sundar was released to represent Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy ahead of India’s Test tour of New Zealand 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 familiar with the developments said.

Roy, who represents Jharkhand in domestic cricket, was part of the India A squad for the 50-over tri-series in Sri Lanka in June. He featured in all five matches, scoring 39 as his highest individual score and taking seven wickets as India A went on to win the tournament.

He subsequently played for East Zone in their victorious Duleep Trophy campaign, contributing scores of 37, 16, 0, 45 and 64 with the bat and claiming seven wickets, including a five-wicket haul against North East Zone.

Roy is the second player to be drafted into the India A squad as a replacement. Seam-bowling all-rounder Suryansh Shedge was earlier added after Hardik Pandya was ruled out with a right medial tibial stress syndrome.

The three-match series begins at the Cricket Association Puducherry Siechem Ground on Tuesday, with the opening match scheduled to start at 2 p.m. The second and third games will be played on October 9 and 11, respectively, with both starting at 9 a.m.

India A captain Ruturaj Gaikwad will join the squad after being part of India’s 2-1 ODI series victory over the West Indies. Vipraj Nigam and Yash Thakur are also expected to link up after featuring in India’s Asian Games gold-medal winning campaign.

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