Mumbai: In another boost to his nascent, promising career, Mumbai's 17-year-old opener Ayush Mhatre was on Thursday appointed as the captain of the India Under-19 team for the upcoming tour of England. The squad also includes Bihar's 14-year-old sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi. Both Mhatre and Suryavanshi have put in impressive performances in their debut IPL seasons.
Mhatre has scored 206 runs in six matches at an average of 34.33, with one fifty. While Suryavanshi had a sensational season for Rajasthan Royals, scoring 252 runs in seven matches at an average of 36.00, with one hundred and one fifty each.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!In fact, the vice-captain of the team, Abhigyan Kundu, is also from Mumbai. Indications are that the national junior selection committee, led by Thilak Naidu, is keen to appoint Mhatre as the captain of the India Under-19 team for the U-19 World Cup in Zimbabwe and Namibia in January 2026.
Like Mhatre, the last India U-19 captain from Mumbai, Prithvi Shaw too hailed from Virar, a far-off suburb in the city. Shaw had led the India Under-19 team to the U-19 World Cup triumph in New Zealand in 2018. Mhatre has captained the Mumbai Under-16 team in the past.
The teenaged batter has put in impressive performances since being roped in by CSK mid-season, scoring 206 runs in six matches @ 34.33, with a strike rate of 187.27.
"Ayush Mhatre is a lovely kid who's got a very calm head on his shoulders. Being around him in the dressing room gave me the feeling that he is someone who can definitely be a leader. He's very confident of himself and also a self-assured team man and that's going to keep this India Under-19 team in good stead. I wish him all the best and I'm sure he has many more leadership roles that beckon him in the near future," Mumbai head coach Omkar Salvi told TOI.
Mhatre, who was acquired by Triumph Knights Mumbai North East in the T20 Mumbai League, Kundu and Naman Pushpak, who has been named in the standby players' list, will now not be able to take part as the trio will attend the India Under-19 camp in Bengaluru.
The England tour, scheduled from June 24 to July 23, comprises a 50-over warm-up match, followed by a five-match Youth One-Day series and two Multi-Day matches against the England Under-19 side.
India U-19 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, Khilan Patel, Henil Patel, Yudhajit Guha, Pranav Raghavendra, Mohammed Enaan, Aditya Rana, Anmoljeet Singh
Standby Players: Naman Pushpak, D Deepesh, Vedant Trivedi, Vikalp Tiwari, Alankrith Rapole (WK)
Fixtures: June 24: 50-over Warm-Up at Loughborough University
The schedule: 1st OD: June 27, Hove; 2nd OD: June 30, Northampton; 3rd OD: July 2, Northampton; 4th OD: July 5, Worcester; 5th OD: July 7, Worcester
Tests: 1st Test: 12-15 July, Beckenham; 2nd Test: July 20-23, Chelmsford.
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