Ravichandran Ashwin ruled out of Deodhar Trophy 2018

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been ruled out of the upcoming Deodhar Trophy due to a niggle. Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem has been named as his replacement for the India-A side.

"India A captain R Ashwin has been ruled out of the upcoming Paytm Prof D B Deodhar Trophy 2018 to be held in Dharamsala. Mr. Ashwin has a niggling issue and the BCCI Medical Team has advised him a week’s rest".

Ashwin, who was recently named captain of the Kings XI Punjab for the eleventh edition of the IPL, was supposed to lead the India A side for the 50-overs-a-side Deodhar Trophy, set to take place from March 4 to March 8. India's middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer will be leading the India-B side. Ravindra Jadeja is part of the Rest of India side, which will be captained by Karun Nair.

In Ashwin's absence, Ankit Bawne, who was initially named in the India B side, will captain the A team. To compensate for the change, Akshdeep Nath will move to the B team.

Ashwin has been out of favour from the Indian limited-overs circuit for a while now, having last played an ODI for India during their tour of the West Indies post the Champions Trophy in mid-2017. His last T20I was also against the Windies on the same tour in July.

Here's the entire India A squad: Ankit Bawne (C), Prithvi Shaw, Unmukt Chand, Shubman Gill, Ricky Bhui, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan (wk), Krunal Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Basil Thampi, Kulwant Khejroliya, Amandeep Khare, Rohit Rayudu

India B: Shreyas Iyer(c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Akshdeep Nath, Manoj Tiwary, Siddhesh Lad, Srikar Bharat, Jayant Yadav, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, G H Vihari, Siddarth Kaul, K Khaleel Ahmed, Harshal Patel, Umesh Yadav, Rajat Patidar