Bawa included in India-A as Hardik Pandya’s reinforcement pool

Seam-bowling all-rounder Raj Angad Bawa on Friday included in India-A team with an apparent intention to provide reinforcement of Hardik Pandya, who could take some time off as Virat Kohli did to deal with workload in future.

Bawa makes the maiden cut for India A squad for the upcoming three-match one-day series against New Zealand A to be played in Chennai.

Compared to spin-bowling all rounders, there are far less number of seam-bowlers than all rounders, and if ever there are some like Shivam Bubey and Vijay Shankar, they have not been up to mark. Therefore, the national selectors have shouldered the responsibility of creating seam-bowling allrounders. Here Bawa fits into the bill appropriately.

If Bawa gets a chance to play for India-A team, he would be tested whether he would be able to come out with flying colours to help himself to compel the selectors to sit up and take note of it.

Bawa, who is a fast medium bowler and left-handed batsman, is the hero of India’s U-19 World Cup winning campaign.

Sanju Samson has been named captain of the squad, and Prithvi Shaw has been recalled, considering his fine form in Duleep Trophy.

India A squad: Prithvi Shaw, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rahul Tripathi, Rajat Patidar, Sanju Samson (Captain), KS Bharat (wicket-keeper), Kuldeep Yadav, Shabhaz Ahmed, Rahul Chahar, Tilak Varma, Kuldeep Sen, Shardul Thakur, Umran Malik, Navdeep Saini, Raj Angad Bawa.