Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant to lead India A in New Zealand A one-dayers

India have named the 'A' squad to take on New Zealand A in the one-day series that follows the ongoing unofficial Test series. Quite unexpectedly, two captains were named to lead the team in the five-match series. While Shreyas Iyer would be captaining the side in the first three games, Rishabh Pant would be captain for the final two matches.

Interestingly, two different squads have also been named for the first three and the last two matches. Iyer has also been named as the captain of the side that will play New Zealand senior men's team for two practice matches ahead of the three-match India-New Zealand ODI series set to begin with the 1st ODI at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on October 22.

The practice matches will be played at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai.

India A squad for first three one-dayers: Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Shreyas Iyer (C), Deepak Hooda, Shubman Gill, Shreevats Goswami (WK), Shahbaz Nadeem, Karn Sharma, Vijay Shankar, Shardul Thakur, Siddarth Kaul, Mohammed Siraj, Basil Thampi.

India A squad for the last two one-dayers: AR Easwaran, Prashant Chopra, Ankit Bawne, Shubman Gill, Baba Aparajith, Rishabh Pant (C & WK), Shahbaz Nadeem, Karn Sharma, Vijay Shankar, Shardul Thakur, Siddarth Kaul, Mohammed Siraj, Basil Thampi.

All of the aforementioned 'A' one-day matches will be played in Visakhapatnam, with the first game scheduled for October 6. The final match will be played on October 15.

The two 'A' teams are currently involved in a two-match unofficial Test series in Vijayawada, with the hosts leading 1-0 after an innings victory in the first game. India 'A' have gained an early advantage over the visitors in the second match as well. They were 360/4 at stumps on day 2, leading New Zealand's tally of 211 by 149 runs.

The Board President's XI squad to play the two practice matches against New Zealand prior to the ODI series was also named.

Board President's XI squad: Prithvi Shaw, Shivam Chaudhary, Shreyas Iyer (C), Karun Nair, Gurkeerat Mann, Milind Kumar, Rishabh Pant (WK), Shahbaz Nadeem, Deepak Chahar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat, Avesh Khan.

These games would present opportunities to emerging players like Prithvi Shaw and Avesh Khan to prove their skills in the shorter version of the game. Shaw recently created a sensation all around the country by scoring a hundred on Duleep Trophy debut, which was in addition to his hundred on Ranji Trophy debut for Mumbai last year.

The 17-year-old Shaw has played only three first-class matches but has done exceedingly well in youth ODIs and T20s. On the recently-concluded tour to England, Shaw returned with scores of 51, 44, 86, and 69 across four innings in two youth Tests and accumulated 170 runs in 5 youth one-dayers.