What’s the story?
As the senior side continue to deliver the goods in the ongoing Champions Trophy in England, the U-19 team will look to do the same when they tour the country in July. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the U-19 squads for the four-day matches as well as the ODIs.
In case you didn’t know…
The Indian U-19 team had comprehensively defeated the England U-19 team in the ODI series when the latter had visited India earlier this year. England managed to win the first match but ended up losing the next three while the last match was tied. The two four-day matches that followed ended in draws.
The heart of the matter
Haryana batsman Himanshu Rana will lead the side for the two four-day unofficial Tests while promising Mumbai batsman Prithvi Shaw will be the captain for the ODI series.
The 18-year-old Rana, who was not named in the squad for the home series against England, replaces Jonty Sidhu as the captain for the Tests. Shaw, on the other hand, has been one of the constant faces in the team. He had impressed in the Ranji Trophy and in the series against England and his promotion to captaincy shows the immense faith the BCCI has in the 17-year-old.
The fresh faces that have been included in the ODI squad are Anukul Roy, Shivam Mavi and S Radhakrishnan. Mavi and Radhakrishnan have also been named in the Test squad. One notable exclusion though is Mayank Rawat, who had hogged the headlines after his 77-ball 279 in a school tournament in Delhi, and was a part of the squad last time around.
Team for four-day matches: Himanshu Rana (Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill, Manjot Kalra, Riyan Parag Das, S. Radhakrishnan, Harvik Desai, Het Patel, Harsh Tyagi, Ashok Sandhu, Rahul Chahar, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Darshan Nalkande, Vivekanand Tiwari.
Team for one-day matches: Prithvi Shaw (Captain), Shubman Gill, Himanshu Rana, S Radhakrishnan, Salman Khan, Abhishek Sharma, Harvik Desai, Het Patel, Anukul Roy, Shiva Singh, Rahul Chahar, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Yash Thakur, Ishan Porel.
What’s next?
The tour will start off with a two-day warm-up game on July 19-20. India will then take on England in two four-day matches at Chesterfield and Worcester. The limited-overs leg starts on 7th August at Cardiff.
Author’s take
The Indian youngsters had given a good account of themselves in the home series earlier in the year. However, the conditions in England will be more challenging. The natural swing and movement on the English wickets will pose a new challenge for the batsmen and it will be interesting to see how India's young crop adapts.
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