Georgetown. Record four-time champions India will look to find new talent while maintaining their stellar record as they take on South Africa in their first match of the Under-19 World Cup on Saturday. Good performances will be expected from Harnoor Singh, Rajvardhan Hungergekar, skipper Yash Dhul and Ravi Kumar who have so far proved their mettle in the previous tournaments.
The Indian team arrived here after winning the Asia Cup and defeating West Indies and Australia in the warm-up matches. The Indian team, the most successful team in the history of the tournament, has reached the finals in the last three seasons. No player from the Indian team, which lost in the final against Bangladesh two years ago, made it to the senior team. Now it remains to be seen whether any of the under-19 team of 2022 can do this wonders. The current team lacks the talents of Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill (2018 batch) but some players have grabbed attention.
There are a lot of expectations from opener Harnoor. Last time Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a lot of runs in this tournament. Harnoor scored 251 runs in five matches in the Asia Cup and scored an unbeaten 100 in the warm-up match against Australia on January 11. Fast bowler Hungergekar has played senior cricket for Maharashtra. In the Asia Cup, he impressed with his pace and took eight wickets. Another fast bowler Ravi Kumar took four wickets against Australia. Captain Dhul is counted among the most talented batsmen in Delhi cricket. He could not do any wonders in the Asia Cup but scored half-centuries in both the warm-up matches here. All-rounder Raj Bawa is a medium pacer and left-handed batsman who is a very useful member of the team.
Head coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar said, “India has a glorious history in this tournament but that is a thing of the past. We have to start afresh with a new team. India are placed in Group B along with South Africa, Ireland and Uganda. The top two teams will advance to the quarter finals. The match against South Africa will be the toughest match in this group. South Africa won the title in 2014 but lost in the quarterfinals two years earlier. He has an all-rounder like Dewald Brevis, who is compared to AB de Villiers.
Teams :
India: Yash Dhul (Captain), Harnoor Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, SK Rashid, Nishant Sindhu, Siddharth Yadav, Anishwar Gautam, Dinesh Bana, Aaradhya Yadav, Raj Angad Bawa, Manav Parakh, Kushal Tambe, Rajvardhan Hungargekar, Vasu Vats, Vicky Ostwal, Ravi Kumar, Garv Sangwan.
South Africa: Georges Van Heerden (c), Liam Alder, Matthew Bost, Dewald Brevis, Michael Copeland, Ethan Cunningham, Valentine Kitime, Vena Mafaka, Gerhard Marie, Fivey Mayanda, Andile Simelane, Jade Smith, Kaden Solomons, Joshua Stephenson, Asakhe Tashaka.
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