U-19 Challenger Trophy: Chance for youngsters to make a mark
LUCKNOW: The U-19 Challenger Trophy, starting here at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee stadium on Saturday, will be an opportunity for the youngster to get noticed.
Unlike last year when for the first time BCCI had invited the Sri Lankan U-19 team to participate in the tournament, four teams – India Blue, India Red, India Green and India Yellow – will be in action this time around. India Blue, the defending champions, will play India Red on Saturday. The final is slated for November 16.
After hosting five domestic matches in the last one-and-ahalf years, the stadium recently witnessed its first-ever international match when India beat West Indies by 71 runs in the ongoing Twenty20 series on Tuesday.
The Challenger Trophy will set the ball rolling for the domestic season as the venue has been also allocated two Ranji Trophy matches.
India have put strong emphasis on U-19 team in recent times. It has been the supply line for senior national side. Since 2000, India have lifted the coveted trophy on four occasions.
The latest was in February when Prithvi Shaw-led team won the Cup in New Zealand.
The 2020 U-19 World Cup will be held in South Africa and it can be said preparation for the mega event will begin with this tournament.
TEAMS
India Blue: Pradosh Ranjan Paul (c), Qamran Iqbal, Swastik Samel, Irfan Ali, Yara Sandeep, Akash Raj, Dhruv C Jurel (WK), AS Sandhu, Arun Mozhi, Prashant Kumar Bhati, Trilok Nag, Ravi Bishnoi, Mandhar Mahale, Hangegekar
India Red: Vedant Murkar (c & wk), Y Jaiswal, Arjun Azad, Shashwat Rawat, Nayan Chavan, Abhishek Selva Kumar, SV Joshi, Venkatesh M, Harsh Dubey, AM Singh, Shushant Mishra, Piyush Kumar Singh, Kishan Kumar, Harsh Raj
India Green: Nitish Kumar Reddy (c), Vaibhav Sharma, Aryan Sethi, Nehal Wadhera, SA Ahuja (WK), Rishab Chauhan, Vathsal, Atharva Ankolekar, RA Choudhary, Manish Babberwal, Anirudh Choudhary, Atharva Poojari, Rohit Dattatray, Manishi
India Yellow: Shubhang Hegde (c), Thakur Tilak Verma, DR Gajraj, Priyansh Arya, Varun Goud, Shubham Shatrujit, Sonu Yadav, Rahul Chadrol (wk), Amit Shukla, Jaymeet Patel, Tekan, Prabhat Maurya, Prayas Ray Burman, Durga Kumar.
FIXTURE
November 10: Red vs Blue (A Ground); Green vs Yellow (B Ground); November 12:
Red vs Green (A Ground); Blue vs Yellow (B Ground); November 14: Red vs Yellow (B Ground); Green vs Blue (A Ground); November 16: Final (A Ground).