Rishabh Pant ruled out of first two four-dayers against New Zealand A
Rishabh Pant batted at No. 8 for Rest of India in the Irani Cup during their second innings • MB Media/Getty Images
Pant suffered his strain during the recent Irani Cup while captaining Rest of India, playing a sweep in the first innings. In the next, he came out to bat at No. 8, suffering from a flu as well. He will continue to recover under the supervision of the BCCI medical team and a decision on his availability for the third and final unofficial Test of the series will be taken later. Early last week, the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) confirmed Pant had made himself unavailable for the Ranji Trophy opener from October 11.
Wicketkeeper-batter Kushagra, a Jharkhand player, played all three games in India's recent three-match red-ball series against Australia A. His innings of note was the century he scored in the first unofficial Test in Puducherry.
Kushagra will now leave with the India A squad - led by Yashasvi Jaiswal - for New Zealand on October 16, with the first game starting on October 26 in Lincoln. The second game will be played at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch before the tour wraps up in Lincoln on November 10.
India A's updated squad for first two matches vs New Zealand A
Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Ravichandran Smaran, Dhruv Jurel (c, wk), Washington Sundar, Auqib Nabi, Akash Deep, Anshul Kamboj, Manav Suthar, Mukesh Choudhary, Sai Sudharsan, Yash Rathod, Mukesh Kumar, Kumar Kushagra (wk)
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