3 players who were unlucky to miss out on India A's squad for the red-ball matches vs Australia A ft. Anshul Kamboj

India A will lock horns with Australia A in two red-ball matches, with the first encounter scheduled to commence on Tuesday, September 16. Shreyas Iyer will lead the side in the two fixtures at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow.

The squad features plenty of names who are in the thick of things with the senior Test team. As many as six players featured in the recently concluded Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. As a result, a few names who have done well in domestic cricket missed out on donning national colors.

India A's squad for the red-ball games vs Australia A: Shreyas Iyer (c), Abhimanyu Easwaran, N Jagadeesan (wk), Sai Sudharsan, Dhruv Jurel (vc & wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Harsh Dubey, Ayush Badoni, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Tanush Kotian, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Khaleel Ahmed, Manav Suthar, Yash Thakur, KL Rahul (2nd game only), Mohammed Siraj (2nd game only).

On that note, here are three Indian players who were unlucky to miss out on the squad for the red-ball A series against Australia.

---

#3 Anshul Kamboj

England v India - 4th Rothesay Test Match: Day Two - Source: Getty

Anshul Kamboj, the only man on this list to have already made his Test debut, did so in the recent Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. Unfortunately, the fast bowler had an unimpressive maiden outing, with both his pace and his accuracy coming under scrutiny.

However, dropping Kamboj from the A squad seems a bit extreme. The youngster was just part of a high-profile Test series and had plenty of work to show for in the domestic circuit in the lead-up to that. He certainly deserves to get a run of few matches with the A team before harsh decisions can be taken on his participation.

There were rumors of Kamboj being injured even when he made his debut, but nothing has been confirmed yet. Moreover, quite some time has passed since the England Test series concluded.

---

#2 Ruturaj Gaikwad

Australia A Men's v India A: Day 1 - Source: Getty

The selectors don't seem to have much faith in the red-ball abilities of Ruturaj Gaikwad, but there's enough reason to believe that he can be given an opportunity in the A tours.

Gaikwad recently hammered a spectacular 184 in the semi-final of the Duleep Trophy, and his first-class average stands at an acceptable 43.56. While he certainly hasn't cracked the format, he is on his way to fixing his technical issues against pace while being an assured player of spin.

Gaikwad is a quality player with all-format potential, and names like that need to be backed whenever possible.

---

#1 R Sai Kishore

2025 IPL - Gujarat Titans v Punjab Kings - Source: Getty

Manav Suthar, Tanush Kotian and Harsh Dubey have been picked as India's spinners against Australia A. In the process, R Sai Kishore missed out, not for the first time in recent memory.

Sai Kishore is older than the above names, but he's close to the finished product in red-ball cricket. He recently had the ball on a string while playing in the County Championship, and his Ranji Trophy performances have been consistently excellent.

The fact that he isn't a reliable top-eight batter works against Sai Kishore, but his bowling credentials alone should be enough for him to walk into the A side. With Ravichandran Ashwin retired and Ravindra Jadeja nearing the end of his career, having a tried-and-tested bowler like the Tamil Nadu skipper could be invaluable for the senior side.