New Delhi, May 31 (IANS) Right-handed opener Ruturaj Gaikwad has been drafted into the India A squad for the upcoming 50-over tri‑series in Sri Lanka, starting on June 9. Gaikwad replaces Riyan Parag, who has been ruled out of the series due to a hamstring injury.

“The Men’s Selection Committee has added Ruturaj Gaikwad to the India A squad for the upcoming tri-series in Sri Lanka. He replaces vice-captain Riyan Parag, who has been ruled out of the series due to a hamstring injury. Riyan’s rehabilitation will be managed by the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE),” said the BCCI in its statement on Sunday.

Parag, who was named as the vice-captain of India ‘A’ side for the tri-series, picked up the hamstring injury while captaining Rajasthan Royals in the later part of IPL 2026, leading to him missing their games against Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans.

He looked restricted in his movement when playing in the final few games for RR, who bowed out of the competition after losing to GT by seven wickets in Qualifier 2 in New Chandigarh on Friday. With RR’s campaign over in IPL 2026, Parag will now undergo rehab at the CoE in Bengaluru, a place where he spent some time earlier this year to recover from a shoulder niggle.

Gaikwad, meanwhile, didn’t have a memorable time while leading Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL 2026. While the side finished at eighth spot on the points table, Gaikwad wasn’t at his sparkling best – amassing 337 runs in 14 games at an average of 28.08 and strike-rate of 123.44.

Gaikwad, who has represented India in both white‑ball formats and was last seen in international action during the 2-1 ODI series win over South Africa last year, joins captain Tilak Varma and fast bowler Anshul Kamboj as the only members of the India A squad with senior men’s team caps.

India A will open their campaign against hosts Sri Lanka A on June 9 in Dambulla. The round‑robin stage will run till June 19, with Afghanistan A being the third team. The final is scheduled for June 21. After the 50-over tri-series is over, India A is slated to play two red-ball matches against Sri Lanka A in Galle. A separate squad for those red‑ball fixtures will be announced later.

Updated India A squad for tri-series: Tilak Varma (captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad (vice-captain), Priyansh Arya, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ayush Badoni, Nishant Sindhu, Suryansh Shedge, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Kumar Kushagra (wk), Vipraj Nigam, Yash Thakur, Yudhvir Singh, Anshul Kamboj, Arshad Khan, and Anukul Roy.

–IANS

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