2020 U-19 World Cup: UP's Priyam Garg to lead as defending champions India announce 15-man squad

Uttar Pradesh's Priyam Garg was named the captain as the defending champions Team India announced their 15-man squad for the 2020 U-19 World Cup on Monday.

Garg's UP teammate, Dhruv Chand Jurel, will be his deputy in the ICC multi-team event, which is scheduled to be played from January 17 to February 9 in South Africa.

Garg's side is placed in Group A with first-time qualifier Japan, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. According to the format, the top two teams from each group will progress further for the Super League stage.

Indian team is the most successful side in the tournament, having won four out of the 13 editions including the last edition when Prithvi Shaw and Co defeated Australia by eight wickets in the final and remained unbeaten in the 2018 tournament held in New Zealand.

The Indian team again is being counted among the stronger sides ahead of the 2020 U-19 World Cup.

One of the recent results that could boost their confidence was their victory in England under the captaincy of Garg. Earlier this year in August, India's junior team visited England for a tri-series and came out as a winner in the tournament. As many as three Indian batsmen featured in the top-five run-scorers in that series including Captain Garg. The other two were the Mumbai duo of Divyaansh Saxena and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

The 17-year-old opening batsman, Jaiswal, recently hit the headlines when he became the youngest Indian to score a double hundred in the List A format.

In the bowling department, the England series saw talents like Bihar's Sushant Mishra and Kartik Tyagi from UP among the top wicket-takers and the two will again be crucial for India in the U-19 World Cup.

Meanwhile, the Indian team also has decent spin all-rounders in Mumbai's Atharva Ankolekar and Karnataka's Shubhang Hegde, who captained India U-19 during their recent 3-2 series win against Afghanistan in Lucknow.

Ahead of the World Cup in January, India's U-19 team has a few series scheduled as practice in South Arica. First, they will take on the home side, South Africa U-19 for a three-match one-day series before they participate in a Quadrangular Series also featuring the hosts, Zimbabwe and New Zealand's U-19 sides.

Indian squad for U-19 World Cup: Priyam Garg (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Divyaansh Saxena, Dhruv Chand Jurel (vc & wk), Shashwat Rawat, Divyansh Joshi, Shubhang Hegde, Ravi Bishnoi, Akash Singh, Kartik Tyagi, Atharva Ankolekar, Kumar Kushagra (wk), Sushant Mishra, Vidyadhar Patil.

India U-19 squad for the tour of South Africa: Priyam Garg (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Divyaansh Saxena, Dhruv Chand Jurel (vc & wk), Shashwat Rawat, Divyansh Joshi, Shubhang Hegde, Ravi Bishnoi, Akash Singh, Kartik Tyagi, Atharva Ankolekar, Kumar Kushagra (wk), Sushant Mishra, Vidyadhar Patil, CTL Rakshan.