Parthiv Patel Called To India A Side As Rishab Pant’s Cover

Experienced batsman and Gujarat skipper, Parthiv Patel, has been called to the India A side as a cover for Rishab Pant, who is down with a fever. As of now, Pant has not been ruled out of the side, and his participation in the game will be decided later.

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Pant has been suffering from fever since the first unofficial Test against New Zealand A, and he also did not take the field in New Zealand A’s second innings. It was Sudip Chatterjee who performed the wicketkeeping duties in his absence.

A call-up to Patel had come as a big boon to him as he was dropped from the Indian team at the start of the year when Wriddhiman Saha regained fitness.

He performed well on his comeback last year and also continued his form by playing an innings of 143* in the Ranji Trophy final, but his performances were not enough to earn him a place as a batsman as when the chance came, selectors decided to award Abhinav Mukund in the Test series against Bangladesh and Australia.

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Parthiv Patel now has an opportunity to perform against an A-level side and draw the attention of the selectors again.

The second unofficial Test match between India A and New Zealand will start on September 30 in Vijayawada. BCCI and New Zealand Cricket Board have made a last minute change to it as now; the match will be played with a pink ball. The game will be played in the daytime only due to lack of floodlights in the stadium.

India A is leading the unofficial Test series by a margin of 1-0.