MUMBAI: Delhi batsman Yash Dhull will lead, while former India allrounder Hrishikesh Kanitkar will coach the Indian team in the Under-19 World Cup, scheduled to be held in the West Indies from January 14 to February 5.
On Sunday, the BCCI announced a 17-member Indian squad for the tournament. The team's bowling coach will be ex-India leg-spinner Sairaj Bahutule, and the fielding coach will be Munish Bali. The same squad and the support staff has been sent to the UAE for the Under-19 Asia Cup from December 23.
"The team will directly depart to the West Indies from UAE. India are supposed to play warm-up games in the U-19 World Cup against Australia and the West Indies," a source told TOI. Kanitkar, who played two Tests and 34 ODI for India between 1997 and 2000, was the batting coach of the team in the last U-19 World Cup two years ago, when Paras Mhambrey, who is now the bowling coach of the Indian team, was the head coach.
In the U-19 World Cup, India, four-time winners of the tournament, are clubbed with South Africa, Ireland and Uganda in Group B. Dhull will have Andhra's SK Rasheed as his deputy for the tournament in the Caribbean.
"The All-India Junior Selection Committee has picked India's squad for the upcoming ICC Under 19 Men's Cricket World Cup to be played in the West Indies from 14th January to 5th February 2022 across four host countries," the BCCI said in a press release. The 14th edition of the tournament will see 16 teams competing for the trophy across 48 matches.
The team includes just one Mumbai player- talented opener Angkrish Raghuvanshi. Dhull, a right-handed middle-order batter, was a leading run-getter in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy earlier this year, scoring 302 runs@75.50 in the five matches for Delhi. Dhull has led the Delhi U-16, U-19 and India 'A' U-19 teams in the past. Rasheed had scored a hundred in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy. Another interesting pick is Punjab's Raj Angad Bawa, the grandson of hockey legend Tarlatan Singh Bawa, who played a key role in India clinching the gold in 1948 Olympics.
India will begin their campaign against South Africa at the Providence Stadium in Guyana on January 15. They will play their remaining group matches against Ireland and Uganda on January 19 and 22 respectively.
India Squad: Yash Dhull (captain), Harnoor Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, SK Rasheed (vice-captain), Nishant Sindhu, Siddarth Yadav, Aneeshwar Gautam, Dinesh Bana (wk), Aaradhya Yadav (wk), Raj Angad Bawa, Manav Parakh, Kaushal Tambe, RS Hangargekar, Vasu Vats, Vicky Ostwal, Ravikumar, Garv Sangwan.
Standby players: Rishit Reddy, Uday Saharan, Ansh Gosai, Amrit Raj Upadhyay, PM Singh Rathore.
