Curious late changes to India A squad

On June 25, the India A squad to tour Australia for a quadrangular one-day series and two four-day matches was announced through a BCCI press release, but late changes have been made to that squad.

The selectors had named the same squad for both formats with Naman Ojha as captain. With less than a week before the team's departure, Indian Express reported that Naman Ojha had been replaced by Manish Pandey for the limited-overs leg; Pandey would be the captain for the quadrangular series and Ojha would lead the side in the four-day games.

The team departs for Australia on Thursday, but the BCCI has neither confirmed nor denied the story. There is no acknowledgement that last-minute changes have been made, its media manager has not responded to ESPNcricinfo's queries, and nobody outside the BCCI is sure which players are travelling to Australia for which format. ESPNcricinfo has independently verified that the change has been made, and that Pandey for Ojha is not the only change in the squads.

Akhil Herwadkar, who initially featured in the squad for both legs, will now be a part of only the four-day matches, while Hardik Pandya, who wasn't part of the initial 16-member squad, will now replace the injured Vijay Shankar in both formats. Mandeep Singh and Yuzvendra Chahal have also been drafted into the limited-overs side.

A BCCI source attributed the late changes to a "communication gap" in the selection process, and said the original idea was to pick two separate squads. "We started off with two teams but in the middle there was a communication gap that's why we kept certain boys in the standby list," he said. "(The) information has come a little late. Definitely it's a little embarrassing for someone like Naman Ojha."

It is understood the selectors were initially in favour of players for specific formats, and had a few players like Mandeep and Hardik on stand-by. However, unclear communication apparently led to a delay in the board signing off on the changes made to the team. The board source, though, denied there was lack of clarity while naming the initial squad.

"Everybody was clear (about the players to be selected)," he said. "(But) subsequently different sides were picked for (multiple) day matches and one-dayers after considering the future options (for the Indian team), like whether Naman Ojha is in the race for one-day spot or the Test spot. Accordingly, the changes were made. Suddenly Vijay Shankar got injured, so there are quite a few things, which happened but otherwise we were very clear. Players like Hardik and Mandeep Singh are future prospects and they need to be given exposure to white-ball cricket."

Ojha said on Tuesday he was informed of the decision "five-six days" ago. "There are 15 (13) Test matches this season so it (playing the four-day games) is good for me," he told ESPNcricinfo. "I have time to prepare well on my batting and keeping, and I will not burn out. I can now train harder for two more weeks (before leaving for Australia for the four-day leg)."

By all accounts it is possible there is nothing sinister about the changes. The logic might even be sound: Ojha is 33, he is not the next India limited-overs wicketkeeper, and like Tests and ODIs it makes sense to have two different squads. There might be logic to it but there was no communication or explanation behind the changes, or knowledge of when the BCCI realised these changes were necessary. The fact that nobody from the BCCI has owned up to this on the record just forces observers to look for reasons other than cricket logic.