Less than a week after the Under-19 Asia Cup was over the BCCI acted promptly to arrange its preparations towards the next Under-19 world cup with the announcement of the India squad that will participate in the world cup. Ayush Mhatre has been entrusted with the mandate of heading the side and Vihaan Malhotra has been appointed as his deputy which is an indication that there will be continuity despite a challenging campaign in the Asia Cup.
The Asia Cup journey of India ended negatively because Mhatre led team was defeated by a wide margin by Pakistan in the final. The selectors have however believed in the young captain and supported him to lead the team in the larger arena of the Under-19 world cup.
Although Mhatre will lead India in the world cup, another group of leadership has been selected in the upcoming tour to South Africa. Vaibhav Suryavanshi has been given the captain-ship of the series of the ODI as the Mhatre and vice-captain Vihaan Malhotra have been given a rest. The vice-captain of the South Africa assignment will be Aaron George, which will provide the management with the opportunity to evaluate the depth of leadership.
The U-19 world cup will commence on January 15 and will be held in conjunction with Namibia and Zimbabwe. The tournament will take more than three weeks and the last one is to be held on February 6. India will also be looking forward to recovering hard after the Asia cup failure and stamping their authority back at the youth stage.
The ODI series against South Africa will be important in the final rehearsal of the squad before the action of the World Cup. The three-match series will be hosted in January 3, 5, and 7, and it is likely to be one of the major tests by various players. A big part of the limelight will be on Vaibhav Suryavanshi who was impressive with his aggressive batting style in the Asia Cup and will now have a chance to build more on his case before the world cup.
India’s squad for the South Africa tour
Vaibhav Suryavanshi (Captain), Aaron George (Vice-Captain), Vedant Trivedi, Abhigyan Kundu (Wicketkeeper), Harvansh Singh (Wicketkeeper), R.S. Ambareesh, Kanishk Chauhan, Khilan A. Patel, Mohammad Enan, Henil Patel, D. Dipesh, Kishan Kumar Singh, Udhav Mohan, Yuvraj Gohil, Rahul Kumar.
India U-19 World Cup Squad:
Ayush Mhatre (Captain), Vihaan Malhotra (Vice-Captain), Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Aaron George, Vedant Trivedi, Abhigyan Kundu, Harvansh Singh, R.S. Ambareesh, Kanishk Chauhan, Khilan Patel, Mohammad Enan, Henil Patel, D. Deepesh, Kishan Kumar, Udhav Mohan.
