The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced India's 15-member squad for the Under-19 World Cup 2024 in South Africa. Before the World Cup, India will also play a tri-series which will be played from December 29, 2023, to January 10, 2024. The third team of the tri-nation series is England.
India have been placed in Group A along with Bangladesh, Ireland, and the USA. India will begin their World Cup campaign against Bangladesh in Bloemfontein on January 20. It will be followed by group-stage matches against Ireland and the USA on January 25 and 28.
India U19 World Cup squad: Arshin Kulkarni, Adarsh Singh, Rudra Mayur Patel, Sachin Dhas, Priyanshu Moliya, Musheer Khan, Uday Saharan (c), Aravelly Avanish Rao (wk), Saumy Kumar Pandey (vc), Murugan Abhishek, Innesh Mahajan (wk), Dhanush Gowda, Aaradhya Shukla, Raj Limbani, Naman Tiwari
Travelling Standbys: Prem Devkar, Ansh Gosai, Mohammed Amaan
Back-up players: Digvijay Patil, Jayanth Goyat, P Vignesh, Kiran Chormale
Meanwhile, the Saharan-led side has qualified for the semi-final of the ACC Under-19 Asia Cup 2023. India advanced to the last four after beating Nepal by 10 wickets on December 12. Baroda's pacer Raj Limbani took seven wickets for 13 runs to bowl Nepal out for a paltry total of 52.
Earlier, India started with a seven-wicket win over Afghanistan in the tournament opener. After a clinical bowling performance to bowl out Afghanistan for 173, Kulkarni's unbeaten 70 helped India chase down the target with 12.3 overs to spare.
India's only loss in the group stage came against Pakistan. Adarsh Singh, Saharan, and wicketkeeper-batter Aravelly Avanish's fifties helped India post 259/9. The target of 260 was chased down by Pakistan wicket eight wickets in hand and three overs to spare. Azan Awais remained unbeaten for 105 anchoring the run chase. Opener Shahzaib Khan and Saad Baig scored half-centuries to help Pakistan beat the arch-rivals.
India will now play in the semifinal which will be played on December 15. The final of the tournament will be played on December 17.
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