Having flattered to deceive on most occasions after his transition from U-19 to senior cricket, Delhi boy Unmukt Chand would like to make amends as he leads India A in the tri-nation ‘A’ series, which is considered to be a launchpad for getting into the senior team.
While India A will play their first match on Friday, the tournament starts with South Africa A pitted against Australia A in the lung opener on Wednesday.
The tournament will be an acid test for 22-year-old Unmukt, whom the Sandeep Patil chaired selection committee thinks as one for the future.
With India playing a lot of cricket in the next two years, the tri-series will also be a chance for the likes of Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav to consolidate their position in the senior team after a fruitful series against Zimbabwe.
But the centre of attention will be Unmukt, who would like to prove his detractors wrong and assert that he belongs to this level.
An average of shade below 35 and a strike rate of 68 plus in over 55 list A matches is certainly not a true reflection of Unmukt’s capabilities as he can be destructive on his day and singlehandedly win matches for his team.
The weak link of this A team is the pace attack which is filled with military medium trundlers like Sandeep Sharma, Rush Kalaria, Rishi Dhawan and would be spearheaded by Dhawal Kulkarni, who barely touches 135 kmph mark.
With the Chepauk wickets playing truant and being on the slower side,the captains too have a bigger role to play in assessing the conditions rightly and then plan their respective strategies as white kookaburra in early morning can be a factor.
The Australians have more or less mastered the conditions well which was evident from their victory in unofficial ‘Test’ series.
South Africa A have solid batsmen-— opener Reeza Hendricks and Cody Chetty at No 3 — who are experienced and had played in the last two tri-series events like their new ball bowlers Beuran Hendricks and Hardus Viljoen.
‘Test win a morale booster’
looking to take the winning momentum forward after clinching the unofficial ‘Test’ series against India A last week, Australia A pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile today said that the clinical performance has proved be a confidence booster ahead of the ODI tri-series starting here.
Australia A clinched the two-match series 1-0 after a 10-wicket win in the final game against the Cheteshwar Pujara-led side and Coulter-Nile believes the team is battle ready for the ODIs as well.
“We are taking to the tri-series after a good win in the Test series against India. We have the confidence with us and in terms of cricket, all the boys are ready to go. We have prepared well enough for the tournament,” said Coulter-Nile ahead of the tri-series opener against South Africa.
“All the boys in the team have tasted international success. We concentrate on the basics and make whatever we got in us, we are hoping to execute them in the competition,” he added.
‘SA spinners have taken to Int. Cricket like duck to water’
Confident that their tweakers are equipped to handle Indian wickets in the tri-series involving the hosts and Australia A, South Africa A captain Dean Elgar on Tuesday said that Proteas now boast of quality spinners, who have taken to international cricket like “duck to water”.
“If you look at the way cricket is played back home, the wickets are pretty hard and prepared for fast bowlers. In the past we had few spinners like Paul Harris and Paul Adams and those guys were pretty much containers for the side. It is easy in the sub-continent (for spinners) as it is conducive for slow bowling,” Elgar said. “Tournaments like this will encourage younger guys to learn the art and do well and put their hand up back home and try and learn to play on those wickets. Those were the days we had one or two spin bowlers in SA but now we have five or six back home and put up their hands and have taken to International cricket like a duck to water,” he added.
live: Australia A vs South Africa A on Star Sports from 9:00 am onwards.