Bangalore :
Karnataka’s prolific run-getters CM Gautam and Robin Uthappa have been drafted into the India A squads for their home series against New Zealand A side to be held at Port Trust Diamond Jubilee Stadium in Visakhapatnam from Aug 31 to Sep 15.
Gautam, who finished the 2012-13 Ranji Trophy season as the third highest run-getter with 943 runs, has been picked to play a three-day (Aug 31) and a four-day game (Sep 5). Uthappa, who was in the Board President’s XI that played against the visiting Australia earlier this year, is selected to play the one-dayers.
An elated Gautam said it was an opportunity to make his presence felt. “It will be great to play against New Zealand in the longer version of the game. A couple of big scores can shape my dreams of making it to the India Test team,” said Gautam, who made his India ‘A’ debut against Australia in January in Chennai.
For Uthappa it will be the platform to work his way back to the Indian One-Day team. “I am looking forward to this assignment as an opportunity to stage a comeback to the Indian team. Playing well in these tournaments helps me get back into the reckoning,” said Uthappa, who scored an unbeaten triple hundred for KSCA XI in the Safi Darashah tournament. “I was expecting this call as I have had a good season in the domestic one-dayers and the last IPL season,” said Uthappa.
Mumbai all-rounder Abhishek Nayar will lead the unofficial Test team while Delhi batsman Unmukt Chand will lead the one-day team.
The series will be followed by a tour by the West Indies ‘A’ team, which plays all its matches in four venues in Karnataka – Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli and Shimoga – from September 17 to October 13.
The squads: Three-day & 4-day games: Abhishek Nayar (capt), Jiwanjyot Singh, Unmukt Chand, Vijay Zol, Manpreet Juneja, V Jagadish, CM Gautham (Karnataka), Dhawal Kulkarni, Imtiaz Ahmed, Aniket Choudhary, Shrikant Wagh, Jalaj Saxena, Rakesh Dhruv, Sarabjeet Ladda.
ODIs: Unmukt Chand (capt), Robin Uthappa (Karnataka), Aditya Tare, Kedar Jadhav, Mandeep Singh, Ashok Menaria, Sanju Vishwanath, Sachin Baby, Dhawal Kulkarni, Basant Mohanty, Sandeep Sharma, Shrikant Wagh, Rahul Sharma, Jalaj Saxena.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Sports> Cricket> New Zealand / by Sunil Subbaiah, TNN / August 07th, 2013
