Batters Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal will both get extra time to prepare for the Test series against England after being named in a strong India A squad.
Test opener Jaiswal has been picked for both of the four-day first-class matches against England Lions, starting on 30 May and 6 June.
Gill, one of the leading candidates to replace Rohit Sharma as Test skipper, will join for the second match at Northampton.
In total, nine of the 20-strong squad have been capped at Test level, including wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel, all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy and seamers Akash Deep and Harshit Rana, who all played in India’s last Test series in Australia.
The party also includes Sarfaraz Khan, who scored three fifties in his debut series against England last year, all-rounder Shardul Thakur, attacking left-hander Ishan Kishan and middle-order batter Karun Nair.
Nair, who has played county cricket for Northamptonshire, scored 303 not out against England in 2016 only to be dropped after six Tests, but is hoping to earn a recall this summer.
Left-hander Sai Sudharsan, tipped for a Test debut after scoring 509 runs in 11 matches in the Indian Premier League for Gujarat Titans, is also included.
The five-Test series between England and India begins on 20 June at Headingley and will be the tourists’ first without Rohit and Virat Kohli, who have both recently retired from the format.
Gill has played three Tests in England – one against England in 2022 plus the 2021 and 2023 World Test Championship final defeats by New Zealand and Australia respectively – and has scored only 88 runs at 14.66.
Jaiswal averages 52.88 after his first 19 Tests, including two double centuries against England in India last year, but his only experience playing in England was on a white-ball under-19 tour in 2019.
England’s competitive preparation for the series is the one-off Test against Zimbabwe starting on Thursday.
India A squad: Abhimanyu Easwaran (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel (vice-captain) (wicketkeeper), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shardul Thakur, Ishan Kishan (WK), Manav Suthar, Tanush Kotian, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Harshit Rana, Anshul Kamboj, Khaleel Ahmed, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sarfaraz Khan, Tushar Deshpande, Harsh Dubey, Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan (both second match only)
