3 clear indications from India A's squad for the one-dayers vs South Africa ft. Arshdeep Singh

India A are all set to take on South Africa A in a three-match one-day series. The opening encounter will be contested at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot on Thursday, November 13.

A number of competitions are happening in tandem. Apart from the A team taking on the Proteas in three one-dayers, a T20 side is taking part in the Rising Stars Asia Cup. Meanwhile, the senior men are all set to face off against South Africa in two Tests.

As a result of this packed schedule, the selectors have had to take some interesting calls. And while many of them weren't exactly surprising, there are still a few storylines to look into.

India A’s updated squad for one-day series: Tilak Varma (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad (VC), Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, Ishan Kishan (WK), Ayush Badoni, Nishant Sindhu, Vipraj Nigam, Manav Suthar, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Khaleel Ahmed, Prabhsimran Singh (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy.

On that note, here are three clear indications from India A's squad for the one-dayers against South Africa A.

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#3 The selectors want India's white-ball pacers to finetune their 50-over game

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India have named about as strong a pace attack as they could possibly have against South Africa A. Barring Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, who will play the Tests, the hosts will have their premier pacemen to choose from.

Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna, all of whom featured in the recent ODI series against Australia, will feature in the A series. The trio are hugely talented fast bowlers, and their development will go a long way in the team building towards the 2027 World Cup in South Africa.

The message from the selectors is clear - they need to play as much 50-over cricket as possible in the next year or so.

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#2 India's middle-order batting backups are evident

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Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill and KL Rahul don't seem to be going anywhere. The top five, apart from Hardik Pandya, have locked down all the spots in India's batting order in the 50-over format.

The selectors need to identify their ideal backups, though, and they seem to have done so. Tilak Varma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Riyan Parag and Ayush Badoni have been consistent features of A teams across formats, and they seem to be in the reckoning as far as middle-order spots are concerned.

Fans and experts have been calling for the inclusion of names like Parag for a while now, and the young all-rounder will get a chance to impress in Rajkot.

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#1 India A have no real need for the left-arm spinners in their squad

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With Parag, Badoni and Abhishek Sharma capable of rolling their arms over, India have no real need for specialist finger-spinners in the squad. While Nishant Sindhu and Manav Suthar can both bat, they might not be needed against the Proteas' A side.

Vipraj Nigam should ideally play as the frontline wrist-spinner, having been picked ahead of the likes of Ravi Bishnoi. Apart from Nigam, Tilak should be able to make do with the above all-rounders. In fact, the captain himself could contribute with the ball if needed.

The selectors have adopted a conventional approach to squad selection, one that might not have been necessary given the senior team's future requirements from their batting all-rounders.

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Edited by Sai Krishna