Abhishek Nayar, Unmukt Chand to share India A captaincy in home series vs New Zealand A

Abhishek Nayar was named captain of the 14-man India A squad for two matches against New Zealand A, the first starting on August 31 in Visakhapatnam. No other player in the Indian squad has any international experience.

The first match, a three-day affair, will be played at the Port Stadium followed by a four-day match at Dr YSR Reddy ACA-VDCA Stadium.

Unmukt Chand, also part of the Nayar-led team, will then lead India A for three one-day matches. The limited-overs side includes Robin Uthappa and Rahul Sharma as the only two members to have represented India.

Jalaj Saxena, the Madhya Pradesh allrounder, Dhawal Kulkarni, the Mumbai seamer, and Shrikant Wagh, the Vidarbha allrounder, are the only ones to feature in both teams apart from Chand.

Vijay Zol, captain of the India Under-19 side and in splendid form, will be part of the Nayar-led side, as will Jiwanjot Singh, the Punjab opener, Manprit Juneja, the Gujarat batsman, and CM Gautam, the Karnataka wicketkeeper.

The limited-overs side also features several players who enjoyed good runs in the domestic limited-overs tournaments - one-day and Twenty20 - including Kedar Jadhav, Sanju Samson, Mandeep Singh and Sachin Baby.

New Zealand A, who travel to Sri Lanka after their series against India A, have several players with international experience, including Doug Bracewell, Neil Broom and Mark Gillespie.

The two India A squads that were named don't have any players who are part of the India A side that is currently in South Africa playing a tri-series involving Australia A and two four-day matches thereafter. The last match for that team, led by Cheteshwar Pujara, will end on August 27.

New Zealand A schedule in India (all matches in Visakhapatnam):
Three-day match: August 31-September 2, Port Stadium
Four-day match: September 5-September 8, Dr YSR Reddy ACA-VDCA Stadium
First one-day match: September 11, Port Stadium
Second one-day match: September 13, Dr YSR Reddy ACA-VDCA Stadium
Third one-day match: September 15, Dr YSR Reddy ACA-VDCA Stadium

Squad for three-day and four-day matches: Abhishek Nayar (capt), Jiwanjot Singh, Unmukt Chand, Vijay Zol, Manprit Juneja, VA Jagadeesh, CM Gautam (wk), Dhawal Kulkarni, Imtiaz Ahmed, Aniket Choudhary, Shrikant Wagh, Jalaj Saxena, Rakesh Dhruv, Sarabjeet Ladda.

Squad for one-day matches: Unmukt Chand (capt), Robin Uthappa, Aditya Tare, Kedar Jadhav, Mandeep Singh, Ashok Menaria, Sanju V Samson, Sachin Baby, Dhawal Kulkarni, Basant Mohanty, Sandeep Sharma, Shrikant Wagh, Rahul Sharma, Jalaj Saxena.