Delhi spinner lone new face in India U-19 squad announced for Sri Lanka tri-series

India U-19 squad celebrating the recent win in the tri-series against Bangladesh U-19 and Afghanistan U-19

The India U-19 squad has been announced for the tri-series in Sri Lanka in December, the last preparatory tour before the junior World Cup in January next year for Rahul Dravid’s wards, and Delhi spinner Yogesh Sharma has been given a call-up.

The 18-man squad for the tri-series also involving England U-19 and Sri Lanka U-19 is without three players who were part of the recent 5-match unbeaten streak at the successful tri-series against Bangladesh U-19 and Afghanistan U-19 in Kolkata – Pradipta Pramanik, Shubham Nayak and Izhaan Sayed.

Yogesh Sharma recently took a 5-wicket haul in Delhi’s victory in the final of the Vinoo Mankad North Zone U-19 Trophy. Yogesh had taken three wickets for India Blue at 37.66 in the U-19 Challenger Trophy. He will make his international debut at the tri-series to be held in Colombo from December 2 to December 21.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, who headed the batting charts in the last series with 377 runs, Washington Sundar and Sarfaraz Khan go into the series as the highest touted batsmen.

Himanshu Rana, who made his first-class debut for Haryana in last season’s Ranji Trophy at the age of 16, has had a decent season as well with an average of 44, but played no part in the concluded tri-series. He features in the squad as well, and this will be his last chance to prove his mettle in the international arena before the World Cup.

The bowling unit is headed by Avesh Khan, who stood out with his economy rate and wicket-taking abilities in the recent wins.

Dravid had earlier said that the World Cup squad was close to being finalised, and this is the team that the BCCI have announced after a meeting on Sunday.

India squad: Ricky Bhui (capt), Rishabh Pant, Virat Singh, Sarfaraz Khan, Amandeep Khare, Ishan Kishan, Anmolpreet Singh, Washington Sundar, Himanshu Rana, Avesh Khan, Rahul Batham, Zeeshan Ansari, Yogesh Sharma, Kanishk Seth, Mayank Dagar, Mahipal Lomror, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Shubham Mavi.