Rishabh Pant picked in India A squad for New Zealand subject to a fitness clearance

Rishabh Pant has been named in India A's squad for three four-day matches in New Zealand, his place conditional on a fitness clearance after the back trouble that disrupted his Irani Cup final

India's selectors named a 15-man squad on Tuesday for the red-ball leg of the A tour, with wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel appointed captain and KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal both included.

Pant is listed as a second wicketkeeper and marked subject to fitness, the only name in the squad carrying that qualification.

The three matches run from October 24 to November 10 and sit directly in front of the senior side's two-Test series, which begins in Wellington on November 19.

Pant's fitness the one open question

Pant led Rest of India to the Irani Cup in Srinagar last week but was unwell for much of the final, batting as low as No. 8 and spending time off the field with a fever.

"When you win, all the pain and fever goes away," he said after Rest of India had beaten Jammu and Kashmir by 167 runs, a victory sealed on his 29th birthday.

The Times of India has since reported that Pant has been managing a back spasm dating from that match, that he has been left out of Delhi's Ranji Trophy opener, and that he is expected to report to the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru and be cleared within 10 to 15 days.

That timeline would leave him available for the later matches of the A series rather than the first, and the selectors have covered the position by handing the gloves and the captaincy to Jurel.

Rahul and Jaiswal head the batting

Rahul and Jaiswal are the two senior top-order picks, with Devdutt Padikkal, Sai Sudharsan, Ravichandran Smaran and Yash Rathod filling out the batting and Washington Sundar the senior all-round option.

Smaran arrives in the best form of the group, having made 68 and 135 in the Irani Cup final. "Smaran, the way he played in both innings, it was an outstanding innings, especially with the position we were in," Pant said of him afterwards.

For Rahul and Jaiswal the fixtures are preparation rather than audition, both having held their places in India's Test side through the past season.

Seamers with Test recalls in view

Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep are the most experienced of four seamers chosen, and both have a case to press after the Irani Cup final, where Mukesh took 6-33 as Jammu and Kashmir were bowled out for 111 chasing 279.

Anshul Kamboj, Mukesh Choudhary and Auqib Nabi complete a pace-heavy attack picked with New Zealand conditions in mind, with Manav Suthar the specialist spinner alongside Washington.

The full squad is Jaiswal, Rahul, Padikkal, Smaran, Pant, Jurel, Washington, Nabi, Akash Deep, Kamboj, Suthar, Mukesh Choudhary, Sai Sudharsan, Rathod and Mukesh Kumar.

Three matches in the South Island

All three fixtures against New Zealand A are in the South Island. The first runs from October 24 to 27 in Lincoln, the second from October 31 to November 3 in Christchurch, and the third from November 7 to 10 back in Lincoln.

The schedule means the red-ball group will have played two four-day matches before the senior Test squad begins its own preparation, and the third finishes nine days before the first Test.

A tour built around the two Tests

The A series is one strand of a tour New Zealand Cricket has described as the largest it has hosted by number of matches, with India playing five T20Is, five ODIs and two Tests between October and December.

The T20I leg starts at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on October 22 and the one-day series follows from November 4.

The Tests are at the Basin Reserve in Wellington from November 19 to 23 and at Hagley Oval from November 27 to December 1, and the A matches are the last red-ball cricket most of this group will play before them.

India A open against New Zealand A in Lincoln on October 24.

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