Kenya to host India and Sri Lanka A teams next month

New Delhi, July 17 (UNI) India A team led by out-of-favour Mohammad Kaif will play two three-day games followed by a triangular series against the national side next month, Cricket Kenya confirmed today.

The Indian A team will be arriving early in August to play two three-day games against the national side, and then Sri Lanka join them to take part in a triangular one-day series in which each side plays the others twice with the final in Nairobi.

The series will be followed by a Twenty20 tournament which will act as a build-up ahead of the Twenty20 World Championships in September.

Bangladesh are understood to be one of the participating countries, although negotiations continue about which other side will make up the numbers.

The tour assumes significance for Mohammad Kaif, who will lead the India A team for the tour of Kenya and Zimbabwe, as also Irfan Pathan as they both try to make a comeback to the national side.

Both Kaif and Irfan Pathan are in the list of 30 probables for the Twenty20 World Championship to be held in South Africa in September.

The squad for the African tour also includes the likes of Piyush Chawla and VRV Singh while Parthiv Patel has been named the vice-captain for the tour.

Apart from Kaif and Pathan, this tour will be an opportunity for youngsters like Chawla, VRV Singh, Robin Uthappa and Rohit Sharma.

The last time the India A team had toured Zimbabwe and Kenya was in July-August 2004 and players like Gautam Gambhir, Munaf Patel, MS Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik, who played in that tour, subsequently went on to play for India.

The team will be coached by former India wicketkeeper Chandrakant Pandit.

The squad : Mohammad Kaif (capt), Parthiv Patel, Robin Uthappa, Cheteshwar Pujara, S Badrinath, Rohit Sharma, Rajesh Pawar, Mahesh Rawat (wk), Piyush Chawla, Arjun Yadav, Pragyan Ojha, Irfan Pathan, V R V Singh, Yo Mahesh, Pankaj Singh, Niraj Patel UNI