Rishabh Pant will make his first competitive appearance since July when he leads India A in a pair of four-day matches against South Africa A at the BCCI Centre of Excellence, Bengaluru, starting 30 October. The second fixture is scheduled for 6-9 November at the same venue.
Pant, who fractured his right foot during the Old Trafford Test against England, has spent the last three months in rehabilitation. “Rishabh has come through every strength and mobility test we set,” Dr Nitin Patel, head of sports science at the National Cricket Academy, said in a brief medical update. “The matches against South Africa A are the next logical step.”
The recall alters Pant’s domestic timetable. Delhi’s Ranji Trophy side had pencilled him in for their second-round game against Himachal Pradesh, beginning 25 October. With only a two-day gap between the end of that fixture and the opening South Africa A match, Delhi selectors now expect to field a stand-in keeper.
India A squads
First four-day match
Rishabh Pant (capt, wk), Ayush Mhatre, N Jagadeesan (wk), B Sai Sudharsan (vc), Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar, Harsh Dubey, Tanush Kotian, Manav Suthar, Anshul Kamboj, Yash Thakur, Ayush Badoni, Saransh Jain.
Second four-day match
Rishabh Pant (capt, wk), KL Rahul, Dhruv Jurel (wk), B Sai Sudharsan (vc), Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Harsh Dubey, Tanush Kotian, Manav Suthar, Khaleel Ahmed, Gurnoor Brar, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep.
Selection chairman Ajit Agarkar stressed that the squads mix recent age-group graduates with fringe Test players. “We’re treating these games as bona-fide first-class contests,” Agarkar noted. “Performances will influence senior selection, especially with a demanding home season ahead.”
B Sai Sudharsan’s elevation to vice-captain rewards a strong domestic year. The left-hander averaged 61 in the last Ranji campaign and struck two match-winning fifties for Gujarat Titans in the IPL. “I’m enjoying my cricket at the moment and keen to learn from Rishabh,” Sudharsan said.
The bowling group blends pace and spin. Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj, both returning from niggles, are expected to share the new ball in the second match, while left-arm spinner Manav Suthar retains his spot after a ten-wicket haul for Rajasthan last week.
South Africa A are yet to name their touring party, but Cricket South Africa officials have indicated it will mirror the successful 2023 group that featured Dewald Brevis and Marco Jansen. Conditions in Bengaluru – usually flat early before offering turn – should test their adaptability.
For Pant, the primary aim is time in the middle rather than immediate fireworks. As he put it in a recent social-media post, “Step by step, day by day.” India A staff will echo that sentiment, monitoring both workload and foot reaction across what amounts to eight days of high-intensity cricket.
A fully fit Pant strengthens not just India A but, in the longer run, India’s Test XI. These two matches, then, are more than routine A-team fixtures; they are a marker in the rehabilitation of one of the side’s most influential players.
