New Delhi, Oct 12 (IANS) Wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant has been ruled out of India A’s first two matches on the upcoming tour of New Zealand due to a left-side strain, with young keeper-batter Kumar Kushagra named as his replacement in the updated squad, the BCCI announced on Monday.

Pant, whose availability for the tour was subject to fitness after catching viral fever while leading the rest of India in the Irani Cup clash against Ranji Trophy winners Jammu & Kashmir at the Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium in Srinagar.

BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia said Pant, 29, remains under the medical team’s supervision, with a final call on his participation in the third match starting on October 7 in Lincoln to be taken later. “He remains under the care of the BCCI Medical Team and is recovering well.

“A decision on his availability for the third match will be taken at a later stage. The Men’s Selection Committee has named Kumar Kushagra as Pant’s replacement for the first two matches,” added Saikia.

Kushagra, the 21-year-old Jharkhand keeper-batter, will join the Dhruv Jurel-led squad for India A’s red-ball shadow tour alongside international stars like Yashasvi Jaiswal, B Sai Sudharsan, KL Rahul, Auqib Nabi, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Manav Suthar, and Washington Sundar.

Kushagra is coming on the back of a good run in India A red-ball games against Australia A in Puducherry. He amassed scores of 113 and 46 to give India A a victory in the first game, while making 10 and 1 in the second clash.

The shadow ‘A’ series holds immense significance for both sides as a critical warm-up series ahead of the two-game Test series to be played in Wellington and Christchurch, which carries major implications in terms of entering the World Test Championship (WTC) final.

India A updated squad: Dhruv Jurel (captain & wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Ravichandran Smaran, Washington Sundar, Auqib Nabi, Akash Deep, Anshul Kamboj, Manav Suthar, Mukesh Choudhary, B Sai Sudharsan, Yash Rathod, Mukesh Kumar, and Kumar Kushagra (wk) (1st and 2nd matches).

–IANS

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