New Delhi: Virat Kohli was rested for the West Indies T20I series. That meant that the skipper cap was donned by Rohit Sharma and he did a brilliant job shouldering the responsibility. However, that was by no means an easy task.

Keeping that in mind, Rohit was rested for the India A series to be held in New Zealand after being selected for the squad. Rohit, who has made a comeback to the Test side, will now leave for Australia with India’s T20I squad on Friday.

“Rohit Sharma has been advised rest by the BCCI Medical Team in consultation with the team management and the All-India Senior Selection Committee. The decision was taken keeping in mind his recent workload,” BCCI said in a statement.

He was picked for the four-day game alongside senior players such as Ajinkya Rahane, Murali Vijay, Hanuma Vihari, Parthiv Patel and young Prithvi Shaw, who are a part of the India squad for the four-Test series in Australia as well.

India A coach Rahul Dravid pointed out that playing in New Zealand ahead of the Australia tour would provide valuable match time to the senior players and a preparing ground for Shaw.

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The first of the three unofficial Tests begins in Mount Maunganui on November 16.

Rohit’s replacement has not yet been named. Since the seniors would play only the opening game, a separate squad was named for the second and third four-day matches.

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Rohit now has only one red-ball practice game ahead of the first Test beginning on December 6 in Adelaide. Before that, he will play the three-match T20I series, starting November 21 in Brisbane.

India A squad for 1st four-day game against New Zealand A: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Murali Vijay, Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari, Parthiv Patel (wicket-keeper), K Gowtham, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Rajneesh Gurbani, Vijay Shankar, KS Bharat (wicket-keeper).