Time for Unmukt to deliver: Tri-series kicks off today

While India A will play their first match on Friday, the tournament starts with South Africa A pitted against Australia A in the lung opener tomorrow.

The tournament will be an acid test for 22-year-old <g data-gr-id="21">Unmukt</g>, whom the Sandeep Patil chaired selection committee thinks as one for the future. With India playing a lot of cricket in the next two years, the tri-series will also be a chance for the likes of Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav to consolidate their position in the senior team after a fruitful series against Zimbabwe.

But the centre of attention will be <g data-gr-id="22">Unmukt</g>, who would like to prove his detractors wrong and assert that he belongs to this level.

An average of shade below 35 and a strike rate of 68 plus in over 55 List A matches is certainly not a true reflection of Unmukt’s capabilities as he can be destructive on his day and singlehandedly win matches for his team.

The weak link of this A team is the pace attack which is filled with military medium trundlers like Sandeep Sharma, Rush Kalaria, Rishi Dhawan and would be spearheaded by Dhawal Kulkarni, who barely touches 135 <g data-gr-id="29">kmph</g> mark.

With the Chepauk wickets playing truant and being on the slower side, the captains <g data-gr-id="25">too</g> have a bigger role to play in assessing the conditions rightly and then plan their respective strategies as white kookaburra in early morning can be a factor.