Hardik and Naman Dhir are both out of India A’s side, and the Australia A one-day series starts in Puducherry on Tuesday
Suryansh Shedge and Anukul Roy join Ruturaj Gaikwad’s squad for three one-dayers, and the first one starts at 2pm IST on 6 October.
Oct 5, 2026
Ruturaj Gaikwad’s India A side will be without two of the names on the original team sheet when the one-day series against Australia A starts in Puducherry on Tuesday, 6 October. Hardik Pandya has been ruled out with a shin injury, and Naman Dhir has been promoted to the senior T20I squad. Suryansh Shedge and Anukul Roy come in.
The three games are at the Cricket Association Puducherry Siechem Ground on 6, 9 and 11 October. The first starts at 2pm IST, pushed back from the original morning start.
Two changes, two all-rounders
Pandya was in the squad when it was named on 9 September, but only subject to a fitness clearance. That clearance never came. A scan after a fitness assessment found a stress problem in his right shin, and he has now gone more than four months without a competitive game. Shedge, the Mumbai all-rounder, takes his place.
Shedge already has three T20I caps, the first against Ireland on 28 June and the others in England and Zimbabwe over the following month. He is a hitter who bowls medium pace, which makes him the nearest thing in the squad to a like-for-like swap, even if nobody would claim he is one.
The other change came out of the senior side’s reshuffle. Washington Sundar was released from the West Indies T20I squad to play Ranji Trophy cricket for Tamil Nadu, Dhir was named in his place, and the selectors have filled Dhir’s India A spot with Roy, the left-arm spinning all-rounder from Jharkhand.
India A already have the four-day series
The hosts start with something to show. They won the first four-day game at the same ground by 162 runs, with Kumar Kushagra’s 113 earning him player of the match. The second was drawn on 2 October, when India A finished on 310 for 9 chasing 365 and their last pair saw out the final three overs. That was enough to take the series 1-0.
Australia A will remember Liam Scott, though. He took 5 for 37 on that last day and very nearly levelled it, and he stays on for the one-day leg along with Sam Konstas, Nathan McSweeney, Josh Philippe and the off-spinner Todd Murphy. The visitors add white-ball specialists too, including Mitch Owen, Spencer Johnson, Ben Dwarshuis and the leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha.
What India A are playing for
Gaikwad leads a batting order with plenty of depth. Priyansh Arya, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, who is vice-captain, and Rajat Patidar are all in the squad, along with Kushagra and Prabhsimran Singh as wicketkeeping options.
Most of these players are a long way from the senior one-day side. Gill’s ODI team has just been beaten by West Indies in Mullanpur, but it won that series 2-1 and its top order is not short of runs. For someone like Gaikwad or Patidar, a big score against a decent Australian attack is the only argument available. Three games is not much time to make it.