Dhoni's 'nursery' produces heir in new U-19 skipper

KOLKATA: After MS Dhoni, another wicketkeeper-batsman from Jharkhand is taking bold strides towards the big stage. Southpaw Ishan Kishan was on Tuesday named the captain of India Under-19 team for the World Cup to be played in Bangladesh from January 27 next year.
Another talented left-handed batsman who also keeps wickets, Rishabh Pant of Delhi, was named as Kishan's deputy by the national junior selection committee, headed by Venkatesh Prasad.
Kishan told TOI that after leading India in the last two matches of the just-concluded tri-nation series in Sri Lanka, he was expecting to be named skipper for the World Cup. He also revealed what coach Rahul Dravid told him. "After the announcement, I asked Rahul sir (Dravid) what his advice would be for me to do my job well. He said, 'Just do what you've been doing. Stay calm,'" he said.
The younger son of a Ranchi businessman, Kishan started learning the game at a young age from Uttam Mukherjee in Patna, and started taking the game seriously after getting into the Jharkhand Under-15 side, which he went on to lead. However, it was former India pacer Subroto Banerjee who catapulted Kishan into the state's senior team early last season, against Odisha in a Vijay Hazare Trophy match.
"I first saw him during one of Jharkhand's net sessions," Banerjee told TOI. "The way that 16-year-old went after senior bowlers surprised me. Like Dhoni, Kishan doesn't look at the bowler. He looks at the ball. If it's there to be hit, he will hit it."
India are placed with Australia, New Zealand and Nepal in Group D.
Ishan Kishan (captain), Rishabh Pant (vice-captain), Washington Sundar, Sarfaraz Khan, Amandeep Khare, Anmolpreet Singh, Arman Jaffer, Ricky Bhui, Mayank Dagar, Zeeshan Ansari, Mahipal Lomror, Avesh Khan, Shubham Mavi, Khaleel Ahmed and Rahul Batham.