Hanuma Vihari added to India 'A' squad for tour of South Africa after New Zealand series snub

Bengaluru, November 12: After being left out of the Test series against New Zealand, India batter Hanuma Vihari was added to the India 'A' squad for the upcoming South Africa tour scheduled to start from November 23 in Bloemfontein.

BCCI on Friday (November 12) named the 16-member squad for the Test series against New Zealand. Vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane was named the skipper for the first Test against New Zealand, while regular skipper Virat Kohli is set to return for the second Test.

One of the notable absentees from the Test side was Hanuma Vihari as it is understood that his defensive game is pretty similar to that of both stand-in vice-captain Cheteshwar Pujara and Rahane, who are going to bat at No.3 and 4 respectively.

India Test Squad New Zealand series: Rahane to lead; Pant, Bumrah, Shami rested; Vihari dropped, Shreyas in

However, reports later suggested that Vihari is being added to the India A squad for the tour of South Africa where he will get three matches to stake a claim in the main squad which will start its series in the last week of December.

"We are sending Vihari to South Africa for the A series and his performance in the three 'A Test' matches will be monitored," a senior BCCI functionary confirmed the development to PTI.

According to sources close to the selection committee, Vihari's current form, and not past record, has been taken into account while selecting the Test squad.

Vihari, in his last six first-class innings for county team Warwickshire, produced scores of 32, 52, 8, 0, 24, and 43 not out. In the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, his output across four innings read 26, 7, 57 and 4.

Later, BCCI confirmed the reports via their official social media account.

"UPDATE: @Hanumavihari has been added to the India 'A' squad for the South Africa tour," BCCI tweeted.

🚨 UPDATE: @Hanumavihari has been added to the India 'A' squad for the South Africa tour. https://t.co/ISYgtlw1S1 pic.twitter.com/uy3UD1pCN5

— BCCI (@BCCI) November 12, 2021

Earlier this week, the All-India Senior Selection Committee had picked the India 'A' squad for the South Africa tour. The team will play three four-day matches during the tour.

For South Africa, Pieter Malan will lead the 14-member Proteas 'A' squad - for the four-day matches from November 23 to December 9 in Bloemfontein.

India 'A' squad for South Africa tour: Priyank Panchal (Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Sarfaraz Khan, Baba Aparajith, Upendra Yadav (wicket-keeper), K Gowtham, Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Umran Malik, Ishan Porel, Arzan Nagwaswalla, Hanuma Vihari.

South Africa 'A' squad: Pieter Malan (captain), Sarel Erwee, Dominic Hendricks, Raynard van Tonder, Sinethemba Qeshile, Senuran Muthusammy, Marco Jansen, Migael Pretorius, Beuran Hendricks, Lutho Sipamla, Glenton Stuurman, George Linde, Jason Smith, Tony de Zorzi.

India's Test squad for NZ series: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), KS Bharat (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.

(With inputs from Agencies)