India A announced for practice match against England Lions, Abhimanyu Easwaran will be the captain

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) men's selection committee has announced the 13-member India 'A' squad for the two-day warm-up match and four-day match against England. The England tour will start from January 12 with a two-day practice match. This match will be played at Ground B of Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad while the first four-day match starting from January 17 will also be played at Narendra Modi Stadium.

Bengal cricketer Abhimanyu Easwaran has been named the captain of the India A team while some players like Sai Sudarshan, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan and Pradosh Paul will be competing for a place in the middle order of the Indian Test team. Sai Sudarshan and Patidar made their ODI debuts in South Africa while Pradosh performed well for India A in the red-ball match against South Africa A. The fast bowling department will be led by Navdeep Saini and Akash Deep.

Akash Deep was included in the Indian squad in the latter half of the South Africa ODIs and was knocking on the doors of the senior teams. There will be a contest for the third seamer between Karnataka's Vidvath Kawerappa and Mumbai's experienced fast bowler Tushar Deshpande.

Rajasthan's young left-hander Manav Suthar will be looking to impress the national selectors as he has been an emerging player with very good performances in the last domestic season. The India A and England Lions series will be played as a warm-up for England's five-match series against India starting on January 25.

India A Team: Abhimanyu Easwaran (captain), Sai Sudarshan, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, KS Bharat (wicketkeeper), Manav Suthar, Pulkit Narang, Navdeep Saini, Tushar Deshpande, Vidwath Kawarappa, Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper), Sky lamp.