Arjun Tendulkar picked in India's U-19 squad

Arjun Tendulkar, the son of global cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar, has been picked in India's Under-19 squad. As reported by Indian Express, he is a part of the team that will travel to Sri Lanka next month to contest in two four-day games. Although the tour comprises five one-day matches as well, Arjun could not find a place in the squad for the limited-overs leg.

Arjun was a member of the selected lot of U-19 cricketers who were part of the camp in Zonal Cricket Academy (ZCA) and participated in the matches in Una. Aashish Kapoor, Gyanendra Pandey, and Rakesh Parikh are India’s selectors at the U-19 level. The four-day squad will be led by Delhi wicketkeeper-batsman Anuj Rawat. The one-day squad will be led by Aryan Juyal, who had made his List A debut for Uttar Pradesh.

The selection had been a long time coming with Arjun's progress as a cricketer closely scrutinized and monitored over the years, owing to the legacy his father left on the sport and on the nation. An all-rounder who bowls left-arm seam and a batsman of an attacking mindset, Arjun has exuded cricketing qualities from the early days of his father's exploits in his early days.

He will join a host of other U-19 cricketers who are sons of great cricketers and hence have a tag of expectations attached to them. Recently, Steve Waugh's son Austin and Makhaya Ntini's son Thando featured in the U-19 World Cup held in New Zealand earlier this year. Among other notable ones, Darren Lehmann's son Jake is now a fairly established cricketer for the South Australian Redbacks and the Adelaide Strikers.

If directed the right way, Arjun, along with the rest of the squad can benefit a lot from this tour, not just as cricketers but as professionals and people, as they will spend time under the tutelage of Rahul Dravid who has made quite a name for himself as coach of the U-19 and India-A sides. His serenity is the perfect blanket for the budding cricketers to be covered with as the fast-paced rigors of competitive cricket unfold in front of them. Also, the man with 168 Test appearances is not a bad brain to pick cricketing skills off.

The complete squads are as below:

India U19 squad for 2 four-day games: Anuj Rawat (C) (WK) (DDCA), Atharva Taide (VCA), Devdutt Padikkal (KSCA), Aryan Juyal (VC) (WK) (UPCA), Yash Rathod (VCA), Ayush Badoni (DDCA), Sameer Choudhary (UPCA), Siddharth Desai (GCA), Harsh Tyagi (DDCA), Y.D. Mangwani (MHCA), Arjun Tendulkar (MCA), Nehal Wadhera (PCA), Akash Pande (GCA), Mohit Jangra (UPCA), Pawan Shah (MHCA).

India U19 squad for one-days: Aryan Juyal (C) (WK) (UPCA), Anuj Rawat (WK) (DDCA), Devdutt Padikkal (KSCA), Atharva Taide (VCA), Yash Rathod (VCA), Ayush Badoni (DDCA), Sameer Choudhary (UPCA), Siddharth Desai (GCA), Harsh Tyagi (DDCA), Y.D. Mangwani (MHCA), Ajay Devgaud (HYD), Y. Jaiswal (MCA), Mohit Jangra (UPCA), Akash Pande (GCA), Pawan Shah (MHCA).

Head Coach: Mr. WV Raman