Punjab batter Uday Saharan will lead India’s title defence at the 2024 ICC Under-19 World Cup in South Africa. India are the most successful side in the tournament’s history, having won it five times. Saharan, who is currently captaining India at the Under-19 Asia Cup in Dubai, was the highest scorer at the Under-19 Challenger Trophy held in Guwahati last month. Musheer Khan, an allrounder, is the only player with first-class experience. He is the younger brother of Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Khan. Another standout player in the squad is Maharashtra allrounder Arshin Kulkarni. Karnataka’s Dheeraj Gowda and Baroda’s Raj Limbani lead a strong pace attack, and Himachal’s Innesh Mahajan and Hyderabad’s Avanish Rao are the two wicketkeepers.India are in Group A at the World Cup, and play their first match against Bangladesh on January 20 in Bloemfontein. Before the World Cup, India will play a U-19 tri-series against the hosts South Africa and England from December 29 to January 10. The India squad for the tri-series and Under-19 World Cup includes Arshin Kulkarni, Adarsh Singh, Rudra Mayur Patel, Sachin Dhas, Priyanshu Moliya, Musheer Khan, Uday Saharan, Aravelly Avanish Rao, Saumy Kumar Pandey, Murugan Abhishek, Innesh Mahajan, Dhanush Gowda, Aaradhya Shukla, Raj Limbani, and Naman Tiwari. The reserve players for the tri-series are Prem Devkar Ansh Gosai and Mohammed Aman, with Digvijay Patil, Jayanth Goyat, P Vignesh, and Kiran Chormale as the back-up players.
