Chennai: Having flattered to deceive on many occasions since his transition from under-19s to senior cricket, Delhi batsman Unmukt Chand will look to make amends as he leads India A in the tri-nation ‘A’ series, which is considered to be a launchpad for getting into the senior team.
While India A will play their first match on Friday, the tournament starts with South Africa A pitted against Australia A in the opener tomorrow.
The tournament will be an acid test for 22-year-old Unmukt, whom the Sandeep Patil-chaired selection committee thinks is one for the future.
With India playing a lot of cricket in the next two years, the tri-series will also be a chance for the likes of Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav to consolidate their positions in the senior team after a fruitful series against Zimbabwe.
But the centre of attention will be Unmukt, who would like to prove his detractors wrong and assert that he belongs at this level.
An average of a shade below 35 and a strike rate of 68 in more than 55 List A matches is certainly not a true reflection of Unmukt’s capabilities as he can be destructive on his day and singlehandedly win matches for his team.
The weak link of this A team is the pace attack, which is filled with military medium trundlers like Sandeep Sharma, Rush Kalaria, Rishi Dhawan and will be spearheaded by Dhawal Kulkarni, who barely touches the 135km/h mark.
With the Chepauk wickets playing truant and being on the slower side, the captains also have a big role to play in assessing the conditions correctly and then planning their respective strategies.
The Australians have more or less mastered the conditions, which was evident from their victory in the preceding unofficial Test series against the hosts.
