CHENNAI: The selectors sprung a surprise on Tuesday evening when they named Baba Aparajith in the India 'A' squad for the South Africa tour which will commence from November 23 in Bloemfontein. The team --- to be captained by Priyank Panchal --- will play three four-day matches during the tour. The 27-year-old from Tamil Nadu last played for India 'A' against the visiting New Zealand 'A' side in 2017.
"I am definitely happy to be featuring in the India 'A' side after a gap of four years. The call has come at a time when I have been performing well both with the bat and ball," Aparajith told TOI. Aparajith is currently featuring at the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s.
While Aparajith may have only featured in T20 formats for Tamil Nadu in the last one year, it is learned that he got the nod from the selectors thanks to his all-round skills. "Aparajith was picked as he has been scoring runs and taking wickets on a consistent basis. He provides a good allrounder option which is what every team today needs irrespective of the format they are playing," said a source close to the development. Aparajith had scored 91 runs --- in 4 innings --- and taken 6 wickets from 7 games in the previous Syed Mushtaq Ali season which was won by Tamil Nadu. During the 2019-20 season, Aparajith was the leading run-getter in Deodhar Trophy (167 runs in 3 outings) and was the fourth highest scorer in the subsequent Vijay Hazare Trophy (598 runs from 12 innings).
Asked how his white-ball performances in recent times helped him get picked for a tour which only has four-day fixtures, the source mentioned, "Aparajith is an experienced campaigner as he has played 78 First-Class games. He is quite capable of switching from one format to another and notching up a strong performance."
Aparajith feels laying more emphasis on his bowling in recent years has brought a new dimension to his game. "I always enjoyed bowling but being among wickets ---especially in shorter formats --- has given me a lot of confidence. I hope to carry that in the tour of South Africa as well," said Aparajith, who had scored 292 runs and taken 4 wickets from 8 outings in the 2019-20 Ranji season --- the last time a full season was held.
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
