Huge blow for India: two players injured ahead of England series, BCCI names replacement

Ayush Mhatre-led India under-19 squad are scheduled to play a 50-over warm-up game, followed by five Youth ODIs and two multi-day matches against England U19 between June 24 and July 23. Ahead of the tour, the Junior Cricket Committee has named D. Deepesh and Naman Pushpak as replacements for Aditya Rana and Khilan Patel, respectively. 

Both Deepesh and Naman were part of the standby players’ list for the tour. In a release, BCCI said that Aditya sustained a stress fracture in his lower back, while Khilan suffered a stress reaction in his right leg during the ongoing high-performance camp at the BCCI Centre of Excellence.

Ayush Mhatre was rewarded captaincy for the series following his heroics in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 for Chennai Super Kings (CSK). After remaining unsold in the mega auction, he was picked as a replacement for injured captain Ruturaj Gaikwad. With a match to go against GT, Mhatre is CSK's third-highest run-scorer. He scored 206 runs from six innings at an average of 34.33. 

Apart from Mhatre, another IPL sensation, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, will also be seen in action in England. He was picked for Rs 1.1 crore in the mega auction by the Rajasthan Royals (RR). The young batter ended his maiden IPL season as RR's fifth-highest run-scorer. He scored 252 runs from just seven innings at an average of 36. He scored the fastest century in IPL history against the Gujarat Titans (GT). 

India's Under-19 schedule for England -

India will play a 50-over warm-up game on June 24 in Loughborough University. Then, the first Youth ODI will be played in Hove on June 27. The next two One-Day matches will be played in Northampton on June 30 and July 2. Worcester will host the remaining matches of the five-match series on July 5 and 7. The multi-day red-ball game will begin on July 12 in Beckenham. The final multi-day game of the tour will commence on July 20 in Chelmsford.

Updated India U19 Squad: Ayush Mhatre (Captain), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Vihaan Malhotra, Maulyarajsinh Chavda, Rahul Kumar, Abhigyan Kundu (Vice-Captain & WK), Harvansh Singh (WK), R. S. Ambrish, Kanishk Chouhan, Henil Patel, Yudhajit Guha, Pranav Raghavendra, Mohammed Enaan, Anmoljeet Singh, D. Deepesh, Naman Pushpak