The young Aditya Thakare, who impressed with his debut for Vidrabha in the Ranji Trophy final, has been called up to the India U-19 squad as a cover for the injured Ishan Porel.
A promising talent, Porel injured his left ankle in the tournament opener against Australia, in which he could bowl only 4.1 overs. He was taken off the field later.
That forced the team management to call-up Thakare. The 18-year-old medium pacer scalped a couple of wickets for Vidarbha to ensure that he played a hand in its Ranji Trophy title victory.
In Indore, when Thakare was brought into the side for the final against Delhi, not many were hopeful of him making a point in the high-voltage final. But then, backed by the seniors, Thakare did impress with his late swing.
While it is still not clear how grave Porel’s injury is, it is learnt that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had e-mailed the Vidarbha Cricket Association on Monday asking about the fitness of Thakare. The youngster will fly to New Zealand late on Wednesday.
This makes the young gun unavailable for Vidarbha’s Cooch Behar Trophy semifinals against Karnataka in Nagpur from Friday. After fielding him in the Ranji Trophy final, the VCA had left him out of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament, in a bid to allow him to play at the U-19 level.
Thakare was part of India's Under-19 squad for the Asia Cup in Malaysia last year, but didn't feature in the playing XI.
He, interestingly, is the second player from Vidarbha to be picked in India’s U-19 World Cup squad. In 2004, Faiz Fazal was chosen in the team but he had to return after fracturing his thumb in a warm-up game. He was replaced by Shikhar Dhawan—who went on to become the top scorer in the tournament.
After 14 years, Vidarbha has got another talent to pin its hopes on, and Thakare would be hoping to get lucky.
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