Ganapathy joins India A squad in England

C Ganapathy, the Tamil Nadu allrounder, has been named as Abhimanyu Mithun's replacement for India A's tour of England starting this month. Mithun, the Karnataka fast bowler, was called-up to the senior Indian squad currently on tour in Zimbabwe to replace his state team-mate Vinay Kumar who was injured.

An opening bowler and useful lower order batsman, Ganapathy made his mark in the 2008-09 season as a bowler, helping Tamil Nadu make the Ranji semi-finals. The following season, he started contributing more as a batsman, converting his 40s and 50s to centuries and bailing the team out of trouble in crucial situations. He ended the season with 543 runs at 77.57 and 18 wickets at 24.22. He followed it up with a five-wicket haul for South Zone in the Duleep Trophy final and was awarded an IPL contract, though he played just one game for Chennai Super Kings.

India A play their first match on tour against Yorkshire at Leeds, a three-day game starting on Saturday.