BP XI Squad Announced: KL Rahul & Karn Sharma Added To The Team
Oct 16, 2017 at 7:41 PM
KL Rahul and Karn Sharma have been added to the Board President’s XI squad that will take on New Zealand in the warm-up matches at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) in Mumbai on October 17 and 19.
The side will be led by Mumbai star Shreyas Iyer and also includes young sensation Prithvi Shaw who also hails from the Mumbai circuit.
Karn, who enjoyed much success in the series against New Zealand A, was able to break into the squad after initial leg spinning choice Rahul Chahar got injured. Sharma should look to capitalise the opportunity and make full use of good form he is in at the moment.
Luck factor has played a huge role in letting him showcase his worth yet again after an unflattering Ranji season last year. He was brought in as the replacement for the Duleep trophy to replace K Gowtham and bagged 15 wickets for help his side, India Red, sail to the finals.
Later, he continued to pick wickets in heaps after being picked to play for the India A side who faced their New Zealand equivalents at Vijayawada in two four day games. He took 16 wickets and finished as the highest wicket-taker of the series. In all, he snapped 31 wickets in a short span to make his case for a return to the national squad a severe one.
And, with this opportunity to play for the Board President’s XI, he can make another impact on the selector’s who seem to be not afraid of experimenting with spin options.
Shahbaz Nadeem, the leg-spinner, is also a part of the side meaning that the two will continue their recently formed successful partnership. The Delhi left-arm spinner was behind Karn Sharma as the second highest wicket-taker in the ‘A’ tour.
Another name who will be in the limelight is KL Rahul who will be playing after getting neglected for the 15-man senior India squad for the three-match ODI series against New Zealand starting on October 22. He was a part of the Indian squad for the five ODIs and three T20Is against Australia but did not feature in a single game.
Karun Nair and Rishabh Pant are the other two batsmen in the national selection radar featuring in the side.
BP XI Squad: Prithvi Shaw, Shivam Chaudhary, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Karun Nair, Gurkeerat Mann, Milind Kumar, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shahbaz Nadeem, Karn Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat, Avesh Khan, KL Rahul.