India A to Tour South AFrica in July 2013, Play NZ A and WI A in India in 2013

[saneindian]

With the stated objective of giving more exposure to upcoming and fringe players, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has planned various matches both at home and abroad for India A side next year. The board has agreed to send the India A team for a tour of South Africa in July 2013, where they are scheduled to play three four day games, two T20 games and three one dayers. With India's tour of South Africa scheduled for later in the year, the board believes that the India A tour will help players who may break into the senior squad get an experience of the longer format of the game under South African conditions. "There are players who have played IPL or Champions League but many still haven't got a chance to play the longer format in South Africa. There are many players, who might benefit from this," a BCCI official said. After the South Africa tour, India A is scheduled to play New Zealand A and West Indies A at home, after having toured those countries earlier this year. "As New Zealand and West Indies hosted us before, this time their teams will visit to India. As the tour will coincide with the monsoon period most of the matches will be played in South Zone," the BCCI official added. The BCCI is also planning to conduct an emerging player tournament featuring four Asian teams India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and one non-Test playing country. The tournament is likely to be held in Singapore with dates yet to be finalised.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/more-exposure-tours-for-india-a/1035611/1 BCCI is making the right moves now and trying to help the team in the best possible manner. Upto the younger players to grab those chances and help improve our away record. Also, will not be a bad idea to pick guys like Kohli, Pujara, Umesh, Ashwin, Ojha etc for that A tour to SA to give them a good exposure before the test tour later in the year.

[Old guy]

awesome :)

[msb1991]

Excellent. Now let's hope BCCI get selection correct and choose those who are on the cusp of international selection.

[carnish]

Good Initiative by BCCI and other boards.

[Number]

Hope we identify 1-2 fast bowlers who we can take there in Dec-Jan later in SA tour.

[rkt.india]

Selections of the team is what is important for SA tour.

[rkt.india]

Good chance for Umesh, Shami, Aaron, Pankaj etc. This should be our core bowling attack.

[jairamesh]

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/more-exposure-tours-for-india-a/1035611/1 BCCI is making the right moves now and trying to help the team in the best possible manner. Upto the younger players to grab those chances and help improve our away record. Also, will not be a bad idea to pick guys like Kohli, Pujara, Umesh, Ashwin, Ojha etc for that A tour to SA to give them a good exposure before the test tour later in the year.

The likes of Kohli, Umesh, Ashwin, are likely to be preoccupied with ODI commitents (Champions Trophy) during this period.

[Sidhoni]

Great. Now lets hope the selectors pick the right team and we find some good fast bowlers.

[saneindian]

The likes of Kohli' date=' Umesh, Ashwin, are likely to be preoccupied with ODI commitents (Champions Trophy) during this period.[/quote'] June 6-23 is when the CT will be played. So if the BCCI wants and the young players are willing, they could be on that India A tour.

[msb1991]

Good chance for Umesh' date=' Shami, Aaron, Pankaj etc. This should be our core bowling attack.[/quote'] I think Aaron should be lower down on the pecking order for Test and India A FC cricket. He is not as proven in FC cricket as Shami or Pankaj (and obviously Umesh) - who have shown that fast-medium and fast bowlers can succeed if they perform well on the domestic pitches. Moreover, he has nothing to say that, regarding fitness, he is up to bowling the 20 overs in a day that is sometimes required. I'm starting to think that match-fitness is now one of the key reasons why people who are young to FC cricket should not be rushed into Test cricket. One must accomodate the body to bowling multiple overs in a day. Otherwise one will either intuitively slow down during a Test (bad), or they will get repeadly injured (worse). Also, B Kumar should definitely be kept around the India A FC scene, he has not put a foot wrong.

[Chandan]

The likes of Kohli' date=' Umesh, Ashwin, are likely to be preoccupied with ODI commitents (Champions Trophy) during this period.[/quote'] Their bad luck! Still Pujara should go to SA and Manoj Tiwari too as he can be a good no 6 if Yuvraj fails or falls unfit. In bowlers, we should certainly send Ishant as he isn't considered for LOI anyway and this exposure will give him confidence. Also Ojha as he too is not considered for LOI. Pankaj Singh should be an excellent investment to see he can perform a tier above Ranji standard or not. If he is as good, then he can be kept as our 4th seamer in the test squad (or even 3rd as I don't think Zaheer can last till SA series next year). B Kumar had done well too and deserves getting chances.

[jairamesh]

But I wonder how useful are these A tours in terms feeding the first team when likes of Bhajji, Gauti, Ishant, Chawla keeping getting picked ahead of the "next in line" guys from the India A team. India A has played two tough away tours in the last 12 months yet only Pujara made it into the first team (which was a given anyways) and yet the likes Rayudu, Shami, Pankaj, Awana, Darekar have been overlooked in favour of the tried & trusted failures.

[jairamesh]

Their bad luck! Still Pujara should go to SA and Manoj Tiwari too as he can be a good no 6 if Yuvraj fails or falls unfit. In bowlers, we should certainly send Ishant as he isn't considered for LOI anyway and this exposure will give him confidence. Also Ojha as he too is not considered for LOI.

I think after 30 odd Tests matches it's safe to assume Yuvi has failed in Tests.

[rkt.india]

I think Aaron should be lower down on the pecking order for Test and India A FC cricket. He is not as proven in FC cricket as Shami or Pankaj (and obviously Umesh) - who have shown that fast-medium and fast bowlers can succeed if they perform well on the domestic pitches. Moreover, he has nothing to say that, regarding fitness, he is up to bowling the 20 overs in a day that is sometimes required. I'm starting to think that match-fitness is now one of the key reasons why people who are young to FC cricket should not be rushed into Test cricket. One must accomodate the body to bowling multiple overs in a day. Otherwise one will either intuitively slow down during a Test (bad), or they will get repeadly injured (worse). Also, B Kumar should definitely be kept around the India A FC scene, he has not put a foot wrong.

That is because June is off season in India and it is better to be with India A than at home for a bowler like Aaron who will only be benefitted and who has been in Indian scheme of things and has done decently well whenever he has played for India. There will be 5 pacers in India A side and that line up should be Pankaj, Shami, Umesh if not playing ODIs/otherwise Ishant, Aaron, and B Kumar. Dinda may be there too but he might be playing with ODI side. There is a possibility of PK too but he too has been struggling with injuries and form. Aaron is fit right now. Hopefully, he will start playing FC as he comes back from Australia from his biomechanical test.

[Chandan]

Please select a team for A tours that can visit SA esp after IPL and CT. Or should we wait till then to see who are standing on their legs to be able to play?

[NareshK]

Its important that even young players who are in current team like Kohli, Umesh, Pujara, Rahane, Rohit, Ashwin, Ishant etc also go on that tour and get valuable experience but something tells me they wont.

[Pagalpanti]

Hopefully players who are actually in the selection frame get selected. And I'd rather they send players like Pujara & Kohli to this A-tour than let them play the useless tri-series vs WI and SL.

[SLICKR392]

Good news. Hope they don't ignore Pankaj this time around.

[gakgupta]

hope they dont over kill the pacers