Another chance for India aspirants

BANGALORE: India discards and other aspirants get another opportunity to showcase their talent in front of national selectors as India 'A' gear up for another home series, this time with West Indies 'A'.
With India set to host Australia (seven ODIs) and West Indies (2 Tests and 3 ODIs) over the next three months, the pointers thrown up in the series, which begins with a one-dayer at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Sunday, will be crucial.
All eyes will be on Yuvraj Singh, who is leading the India 'A' one-day side. Ousted from the national team after the home series against England earlier this year, the swashbuckling batsman will be desperate to produce a sparkling show against Kieran Powell's West Indies. Besides Yuvraj, Robin Uthappa, Yusuf Pathan and Rahul Sharma will treat this series as a springboard to return to the national fold.
Pacemen Irfan Pathan and Praveen Kumar too would have nurtured hopes of impressing the selectors but they have been ruled out of the one-day series owing to injuries. Karnataka seamer R Vinay Kumar and Punjab medium-pacer Siddharth Kaul have come in as replacements.
Uthappa has been in fine form this season having scored a century against New Zealand A last week besides scoring a triple hundred at the All India Safi Darashah tournament in August. The local lad will aim at capitalizing on the home advantage against the inexperienced West Indies side.
Uthappa's opening partner Unmukt Chand too is in good form having scored 164 runs in the three one-dayers against New Zealand A.
Off-spinner Baba Aparajith, who proved his abilities in India U-23's Asian Cricket Council Emerging Teams Cup triumph last month, batsman Kedar Jadhav and all-rounder Mandeep Singh, who came good in the last two one-dayers against New Zealand A, are the other players to watch.
India A put up a mediocre show in the West Indies last year, losing the three-match unofficial Test series 1-2 and T20 0-1 and drawing the one-dayers 1-1. This time, with a strong line-up, the results could well be different.
However, as India 'A' coach Lalchand Rajput pointed out, West Indies cannot be taken lightly. Having had a successful home series against Sri Lanka 'A' recently and berths up for grabs in the national team for the India tour (October-November), the young Caribbeans have an incentive to perform.
The team boasts the dangerous Kirk Edwards and Leon Johnson in the middle besides Narsingh Deonarine. Right-arm medium-pacer Miguel Cummins, left-arm spinner Nikita Miller and left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul lead their bowling attack.
The squads: India A: Yuvraj Singh (captain), Unmukt Chand, Robin Uthappa, Baba Aparajith, Kedar Jadhav, Naman Ojha (wk), Yusuf Pathan, Vinay Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Siddharth Kaul, Sumit Narwal, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mandeep Singh, Rahul Sharma.
West Indies A: Kieran Powell (capt.), Veerasammy Permaul, Ronsford Beaton, Nkrumah Bonner, Jonathan Carter, Sheldon Cottrell, Miguel Cummins, Narsingh Deonarine, Kirk Edwards, Andre Fletcher, Leon Johnson, Nikita Miller, Ashley Nurse, Andre Russell, and Devon Thomas.
Schedule (India 'A' vs WI 'A'): One-dayers: Sept 15, 17, 19 (at 9am). T20: Sept 21 (12 noon). All matches in Bangalore. Unofficial four-day tests: Mysore (Sept 25-28), Oct 2-5 (Shimoga), Oct 9-12 (Hubli). Matches begin at 9am.