Bumrah and Jadeja join India A in Lincoln for the last red-ball outing before Wellington

Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja have been added to India A's squad for the third unofficial Test in Lincoln, handing both their only red-ball cricket before the Test series against New Zealand

The four-day match against New Zealand A begins on Saturday at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval and runs to November 10, twelve days before India open the Test series at the Basin Reserve in Wellington.

Neither player is in India's ODI squad. Bumrah was rested for the white-ball leg of the tour, and Jadeja has been playing Ranji Trophy cricket at home, so Lincoln is the only first-class cricket either will get in New Zealand conditions before the series.

They arrive as Rishabh Pant drops out. The wicketkeeper has been ruled out of the match with a side strain and is rehabilitating at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, with Tilak Varma called into the squad in his place.

Bumrah's only red-ball cricket of the tour

Bumrah has completed two training sessions with the India A group since arriving in New Zealand, having been left out of the white-ball fixtures to manage his workload.

The Lincoln match gives India a controlled look at his rhythm and his bowling loads before a two-Test series in which he is expected to lead the attack.

He was not in the original party for the tour. Dhruv Jurel was named captain of an India A squad picked without him, and Bumrah has been drafted in only for the final fixture.

Jadeja arrives off a Ranji Trophy run

Jadeja comes to Lincoln from two Ranji Trophy matches for Saurashtra, in which he took seven wickets and made a century.

That is red-ball cricket of a very different kind. Wellington and Christchurch are expected to offer seam and bounce rather than turn, and the four days at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval are his only chance to bowl in those conditions beforehand.

Pant out, and Jurel in possession

Pant sustained the strain during the Irani Cup in October, while captaining Rest of India against Jammu and Kashmir in Srinagar. He will now have missed all three unofficial Tests on the tour.

A BCCI source told PTI that he has resumed skill training and is no longer in pain, but that no date has been set for his return to competitive cricket. Medical staff are expected to assess him across several batting and wicketkeeping sessions before fixing one.

Jurel, who kept wicket and made 105 in the drawn second unofficial Test, captains the side again and would take the gloves in Wellington if Pant is not passed fit. Kumar Kushagra had covered for Pant in the first two matches.

A bowling group rebuilding match fitness

Prasidh Krishna is also expected to play, three weeks into his recovery from a hamstring strain. He has been cleared for all formats but was left out of the ODI squad so that he reaches the Tests fresh.

Nitish Kumar Reddy, released from India's ODI squad this week, is in the side as a seam-bowling all-rounder.

Shubman Gill will not appear. The India captain remains committed to the one-day series, which runs alongside the Lincoln fixture.

What the tour has produced so far

India A have drawn both four-day matches. In the second, at Hagley Oval, they were put in and made 346, New Zealand A replied with 424, and India A batted out the remainder at 282 for 2.

Lincoln is the last of the three, and the last organised cricket most of India's Test squad will play before the series begins.

The third unofficial Test starts on Saturday at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval, with India's first Test against New Zealand to follow at the Basin Reserve on November 19.