Priyam Garg will lead India’s quest to defend the Under-19 World Cup after being named captain for the tournament, to be played in South Africa from January 17 to February 9.
The squad was announced on Monday, a day after the national junior selection committee, headed by Aashish Kapoor, met at the BCCI headquarters here with Rahul Dravid, the head of cricket at the National Cricket Academy, as a special invitee.
Led by Prithvi Shaw and Dravid as coach, India lifted the trophy in 2018. Garg will have his UP team-mate Dhruv Chand Jurel as his deputy. Kartik Tyagi will complete the UP triumvirate in the squad of 15.
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Besides UP, Mumbai will also see three of its promising cricketers in the squad. Yashasvi Jaiswal, who became the youngest double-centurion in senior List A cricket in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, would look to carry his sensational form to South Africa. While Atharva Ankolekar, the left-arm spinner who was the star of India’s U-19 Asia Cup triumph, and batsman Divyaansh Saxena, from the stables of Dilip Vengsarkar Foundation, will hope to play the supporting role.
The squad, which sees representation from eight associations, also includes Divyansh Joshi, who has an interesting tale. The all-rounder who is from Greater Noida in UP and studies in Dehradun in Uttarakhand was first spotted while batting for Mizoram in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy. He will be hoping to kick-start a cricket revolution in Mizoram despite being one of the three guest players in the north-eastern state’s under-19 team.
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The India under-19 squad couldn’t have asked for a better preparation than a bilateral series against South Africa and a quadrangular series featuring South Africa, Zimbabwe and New Zealand’s under-19 teams in South Africa just ahead of the tournament.
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