Prasidh Krishna cleared for all formats and set to join India A before the New Zealand Tests

Prasidh Krishna has been declared fit for all formats after completing his return-to-play protocols in Bengaluru and is expected to join India A in New Zealand this week

The India fast bowler cleared the final stage of his recovery from a left hamstring injury after two days of match simulation at the BCCI Centre of Excellence, where the board's medical staff signed him off across all three formats.

The clearance arrived too late for the five-match one-day series, which opened at Eden Park on November 4, but it leaves him available for the final four-day match against New Zealand A from November 7 and for the two-Test series that begins in Wellington on November 19.

Krishna has not completed a competitive spell since September 30, when he was withdrawn after five overs of the second ODI against West Indies in Guwahati as a precaution.

Two days of simulation in Bengaluru

The assessment was set for November 1 and 2, and required him to bowl through a simulated match workload rather than a single session in the nets.

He came through both days, and the medical team at the Centre of Excellence confirmed he had completed his return-to-play protocols.

The sign-off covers Tests, one-day internationals and T20 internationals, which removes the last formal obstacle to his selection.

Krishna had been rehabilitating at the Bengaluru facility since the injury. "Prasidh is recovering well," a BCCI source told PTI last week, while the selectors kept him out of the one-day squad.

Ruled out of the one-day series

Krishna was withdrawn from the ODI squad on October 30, having originally been picked for the first three matches subject to fitness.

The reason given was that he had been unable to secure a fitness clearance and needed more time to build the workload competitive cricket demands.

Auqib Nabi, the Jammu and Kashmir seamer, is named in India's squad for the fourth and fifth ODIs. Shubman Gill leads the side for the first three matches and Shreyas Iyer takes over for the last two.

A four-day game to rebuild the workload

India A's last red-ball fixture against New Zealand A, beginning on November 7, is the only first-class cricket on the schedule before the Test series.

Mohammed Siraj was added to that A squad for the second game, and Nitish Kumar Reddy was held back for the first ODI before joining the A side for the final match.

For Krishna the match offers what a fitness test cannot, which is overs in the middle against a side preparing for the same Tests.

The Tests in Wellington and Christchurch

The first Test runs from November 19 to 23 at the Basin Reserve in Wellington.

The second is at Hagley Oval in Christchurch from November 27 to December 1, closing a 12-match tour across three formats.

Both carry World Test Championship points, and the team management and selectors wanted Krishna fully fit for them, judging that he was needed there more than in the one-day side.

India's attack in the meantime

India began the one-day series without Krishna and without Jasprit Bumrah, and still bowled New Zealand out for 185 in 40.2 overs in the opening match at Eden Park.

Gill had won the toss and chosen to bowl, and New Zealand were dismissed inside 41 overs of their 50.

Krishna's place in the plans, though, sits with the red-ball leg, which is why the board held him back through five weeks of rehabilitation rather than rush him into the white-ball matches.

He was first named in the one-day squad on the condition that he proved his fitness, and the condition was not met in time.

Krishna is expected to fly to New Zealand in the coming days, with the four-day game against New Zealand A his first assignment back.

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