Spotlight on Easwaran, Nitish as India A take on Australia A

The performance of Abhimanyu Easwaran, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Prasidh Krishna will be the primary focus of India A’s four-day match against their Australian counterparts starting here on Thursday.

Easwaran, Nitish and Prasidh have been included in India’s squad for the five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy, beginning on November 22, and the think-tank will be eager to know how they fare in Australian conditions.

Easwaran’s performance will, however, have far more significance as the 29-year-old opener could potentially be Rohit Sharma’s replacement if the captain skips a match or two against Australia for personal reasons.

Easwaran, who is also the vice-captain of India A, is a vastly experienced campaigner having played 99 First-Class matches and scoring 7638 runs with 27 hundreds and 29 fifties.

He has also been part of the India squad in the past but what inspires confidence is his recent form in First-Class matches. The right-hander struck 157 and 116 for India B in the Duleep Trophy before making a 191 against Mumbai for Rest of India in the Irani Trophy. He made another hundred in his final red-ball game before flying out to Australia — an unbeaten 127 against Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy.

So, he has the body of work to feel in fine fettle ahead of the match against Australia A, though the conditions here will be vastly different from what he has experienced so far this season in India.

On the other hand, Nitish does not boast of such impressive First-Class numbers, as he has been drafted into the squad for his perceived ability as a pace-bowling all-rounder and, even in that, batting is his stronger suit.

In the Duleep Trophy earlier this year, Nitish made two ducks with a highest of 40 in five matches while grabbing just two wickets. But the selectors have backed him ahead of senior names such as Shardul Thakur, who has resumed playing domestic matches after recovering from an injury.

Test series win vs India missing from Cummins’ CV

Sydney: Pat Cummins has never been part of a victorious Test series campaign against India, and the Australian captain wants to erase that blemish from his CV during the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, starting with the first match at Perth from November 22. Under the leadership of the 31-year-old, Australia have won the World Test Championship, the ODI World Cup, both beating the Indians, and the Ashes, but never managed to beat India in a bilateral rubber in the traditional format. “It’s kind of the one big thing that I want to tick off,” Cummins said. “Particularly winning at home. Most Australians, me included, expect us to do well whenever we play at home,” he added.