Chance for the 'A' team to knock the doors of the senior side

History is going to be made as Australia A team tours India to face India A team in three one-days and three T20s. The tour is scheduled to be played from October 15 at the Bandra-Kurla Complex ground in Mumbai. This will be the first official Australia A tour of India after the National Talent Pathway last year.



Both the teams consist of International players like Lauren Cheatle, Molly Strano, Amanda-Jade Wellington, Punam Raut, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shikha Pandey and a few others. With all these International players, the familiar WBBL names and the talented domestic players, the series is expected to be a competitive one.



Key Players:



For India A, all-rounder Devika Vaidya, batter Priya Punia and offspinner Sushree Dibyadarshani will play the major roles. Devika Vaidya is currently in a formidable form. She missed the Senior Challenger Trophy in August due to dengue but made a brilliant comeback and helped India Blue to reach the final of the U-23 Challenger Trophy. Having led from the front, she scored 71 runs and scalped 2 wickets.



Batter Priya Punia too has been in a great form. She recently amassed 83 runs in the U-23 Challenger Trophy. The hard-hitting opener could provide problems for the Australia bowling attack. With the ball, Sushree Dibyadarshani has been very impressive throughout the U-23 Challenger Trophy; where she bagged 6 wickets and helped India Green win the title.



For Australia A, Leg-spinner Amanda-Jade Wellington will pose a great threat to India A. In 21 International appearances so far in all the three formats, she has 27 wickets to her name. Wellington took 17 scalps in the last year’s WBBL, including the best figures of 3/9. Along with her, Sammy-Jo Johnson, Chloe Piparo and Lauren Cheatle too will play pivotal roles in their side's win.



Importance:



The series will play a major role for those players who are on the verge of the national selection. Whereas this series is equally important to those players who couldn't make it to the national team for the upcoming World T20. For Cheatle, the tour will provide a chance to perform well after the exclusion from the squad in the 2017-18 season due to injury, while Vakarewa and Wellington have the opportunity to seal their places in the team after being left out of the squad in the recently concluded series against Pakistan as well as the World T20.



For India, this tour will play the vital role for captain Punam Raut, Mona Meshram, Sushma Verma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Shikha Pandey. Experienced opener Raut and middle-order batter Mona Meshram were axed from the T20I squad for the poor performances; whereas Taniya Bhatia replaced first-choice wicket-keeper Sushma Verma from both the 50-over and the shortest format. Slow left-arm orthodox Rajeshwari Gayakwad and pace spearhead Shikha Pandey too couldn't make it to the squad for the World T20. This series will give them another chance to perform and get selected in the national side again.



Full Fixtures here



Squads:



India A:



Punam Raut (c), Priya Punia, Devika Vaidya, Mona Meshram, Tanushree Sarkar, Sushma Verma (wk), Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Sushree Dibyadarshani, C Prathyusha, Reemalaxmi Ekka, Shikha Pandey, Nethra L, Hemali Borwankar, Kavita Patil, Preeti Bose



Australia A:



Samantha Bates, Maitlan Brown, Lauren Cheatle, Piepa Cleary, Josephine Dooley, Heather Graham, Sammy Jo Johnson, Tahlia McGrath, Chloe Piparo, Georgia Redmayne, Naomi Stalenberg, Molly Strano, Belinda Vakarewa, Amanda-Jade Wellington