BCCI announce U19 squad for Asia Cup

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced India U19 squad for the upcoming Asia cup in Malaysia. The tournament is set to be played from November 9 and will conclude on 20th of the same month. India won the third edition and will enter the competition as the defending champion. The team will be coached by the former India captain and the legendary cricketer Rahul Dravid who looks after India A team as well.

The tournament was played in Sri Lanka last year and the final was won by India by 34 runs. Alike last year, this year also there would be 8 teams participating in the competition as India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have already earned an automatic qualification. Nepal and Hong Kong have confirmed their places and the remaining two teams would be decided after the Western qualifiers.

Himanshu Rana to lead the side

Himanshu Rana will lead the young side who was also the highest run-getter last year in India’s title triumph. Abhishek Sharma has been appointed as vice-captain of the side and will assist Rana in his decision making. Earlier, Asia Cup was scheduled to be played in Bengaluru in India but Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) expressed its reservations in travelling to India owing to the political tensions between the two countries.

Hence, to avoid further disagreements, the tournament was shifted out of India and Malaysia was given the honour to host. “The matter of shifting the tournament to Malaysia was amicably agreed by all participants in the development and executive committees, since no one wanted it marred by security considerations of any member,” PCB chairman Najam Sethi had said then. India would love to defend their title this year as well and the cricketers have a great chance to push their case for the senior teams.

Here’s the squad: