Kohli to feature against Australia 'A'

The Australia A tour of India will receive an injection of superstardom with Test captain Virat Kohli to feature for the home side in the second four-day match in Chennai.

India’s tour of Sri Lanka next month will be Kohli’s first full series in charge of the Test side, and the 26-year-old will use next week’s ‘A’ clash as preparation after minimal red-ball cricket since the tour of Australia last summer.

Kohli magic almost enough for India

For the rising stars and Test hopefuls of the touring Australian side, Kohli’s presence also provides an enormous opportunity to play against one of the biggest names in world cricket.

The bowling attack to be made up from Gurinder Sandhu, Andrew Fekete, Sean Abbott, Stephen O’Keefe and Ashton Agar, will get the rare opportunity to take on the Indian star in the longer format.

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Stephen O'Keefe celebrates a wicket in Chennai // BCCI

“This is the ideal reason we play the 'A' series because it gives our guys an opportunity to test themselves against quality opposition,” Australia A coach Troy Cooley said.

“It's also a yardstick for the boys to measure themselves in challenging conditions and it's an invaluable experience, especially as most of these players are pushing for a national call-up.”

Kohli’s inclusion means the India ‘A’ squad for the second four-day clash could feature as many as five members of the Test squad announced yesterday, with KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Umesh Yadav and Amit Mishra all playing in the opening match of the tour.

The tour opener at M.A.Chidambaram Stadium looks finely poised after impressive performances from spinner Stephen O’Keefe and middle-order batsmen Peter Handscomb and Marcus Stoinis.

O'Keefe bags six, Handscomb impresses

O’Keefe ripped through the home side to claim six wickets, while the Victorian Bushrangers duo led the rescue mission with a pair of half centuries after a shaky start from the top order.

India’s tour of Sri Lanka will consist of three Test matches, with cricket legend Kumar Sangakkara to retire from all forms of international cricket after the second match.

Quick Single: Sri Lanka v India fixture

India Test squad to tour Sri Lanka: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Ravi Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra, Varun Aaron.

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