Sri Lanka U19 to play U19 Challengers Trophy in India

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has invited Sri Lankan U19 team for the U19 Challenger Trophy in India. The Challenger Trophy traditionally is played between three Indian teams and this year BCCI invited the fourth team to spice up the tournament. It will mark the first time that an overseas team plays the Challenger Trophy in India. The main objective of the move is to give more exposure and competition to the three Indian teams ahead of the U19 World Cup next year.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) accepted the invitation and will send their U19 team for the competition in Mumbai where each team will play three league games with two top teams to qualify for the finals. The tournament will be played under the floodlights.

More meaning to the contest

“All these boys have played with each other for quite some time now. The BCCI wants to give more meaning to these contest at the same time playing a foreign team will help prepare India Under-19 team which is scheduled to play U19 World Cup next year in New Zealand,” sources in the BCCI were quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

Among the key players Mumbai batsman Prithvi Shaw will lead India A while Himanshu Rana has been handed over the captaincy responsibilities of Team B and Abhishek Sharma has been named skipper for Team C. The BCCI junior selection committee has named 13 players each for the squads and the tournament will help them pick the core team which will represent India in the U19 World Cup in 2018.

Meanwhile, in the U19 Asia Cup in Malaysia defending champions India were knocked out of the tournament after suffering shocking defeat at the hands of Bangladesh. Earlier, in the tournament, Team India was defeated by Nepal.

India’s exit meant Bangladesh and Nepal will join Pakistan and Afghanistan respectively in the semifinals. This is a new low in Indian junior cricket. And the Challenger Trophy is expected to pave way for the possible changes in the unit.