MSK Prasad wants 26-man squad including India A in Australia; will help scout youngsters

Former Team India chief selector MSK Prasad opined that a 26-man squad, including India A side, should tour Australia later this year in order for senior Men in Blue cricketers to evaluate younger players & understand potential future competitors for a spot in Indian team. India are scheduled to play a three-match Test series against Australia in December in Down Under, including a day-night Test at Adelaide Oval. With a 14-day quarantine protocol in place before Test begins, BCCI will most likely send a 'jumbo squad' comprising of over 20 players, similar to how England and Pakistan have already done so to train in a bio-secure environment. 

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'Opportunity to look at youngsters'  

MSK Prasad opined that sending a jumbo squad to Australia would provide  senior cricketers an opportunity to observe youngsters who were' kcking at doors'. In addition to this, Prasad said that it will also allow team to monitor players who can be potential challengers for different spots in team in future. former chief selector also pointed out that jumbo squad will help team train among mselves as exposure to net bowlers might increase risk of contracting virus. 

" team manment and seniors will have an opportunity to look at youngsters who are kcking doors," Prasad, who till February was selection committee head, told PTI during an interaction.

"In this process, you can also monitor those players who can be potential guys for different spots in future," Prasad said.

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Prasad said that traveling with a jumbo squad would expose team's first-choice batsmen to a variety of bowlers before facing hosts. In addition to this, Prasad cited an example of how Shreyas Iyer and Khaleel Ahmed could help Indian team train better with ir skills which could be simulated as Aussies' skills. Prasad also stressed on need to travel with a huge squad in order to keep back-ups in place, considering that IPL was likely to be held before series and could possibly lead to a few injuries.  

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MSK Prasad's 26-man jumbo squad

Openers: Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul. 

Middle-order: Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer; 

Wicketkeeper: Rishabh Pant, Wriddhiman Saha.

Spinners:Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra  Jadeja, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rahul Chahar, Kuldeep Yadav, 

All-rounder: Hardik Pandya

Pacers: Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah,  Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmedh, Shardul Thakur.

Purely white ball: Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Krunal Pandya.

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