Priyam Garg will look to join a select list of India Under-19 World Cup-winning captains consisting of Mohammad Kaif, Virat Kohli, Unmukt Chand and Prithvi Shaw when he leads the team at the 2020 edition in South Africa in January-February. Uttar Pradesh's wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel has been named his deputy.

Garg is already a first-class regular for Uttar Pradesh. He finished the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy as the second-highest run-scorer for UP, making 814 runs at an average of 67.83, with two hundreds including a career-best 206. He also featured in the Deodhar Trophy recently, top-scoring with a 77 for India C in the final. He has played 15 List A matches and 11 T20s.

The 15-member squad also features Mumbai's 17-year-old Yashasvi Jaiswal, who has already made waves in the 50-overs format. During the Vijay Hazare Trophy in September-October, Jaiswal became the youngest player to smash a List A double-century, while also topping the run charts for Mumbai. In all, he made 564 runs at an average of 112.80 with three hundreds and a fifty.

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Karnataka's spin-bowling allrounder Shubhang Hegde, who recently led India Under-19 to a 3-2 series win over Afghanistan in Lucknow, was also in the squad. He first impressed as a 15-year-old in the Karnataka Premier League and has just a solitary first-class game under his belt.

The World Cup begins on January 17 with India slotted in Group A along with New Zealand, Sri Lanka and first-time qualifiers Japan. There are four groups with 16 teams in all and the top two sides from each of them will qualify for the Super League stage. The final will be played in Potchefstroom on February 9. This will be the 13th edition of the Under-19 World Cup and India have won four titles so far, the most, including the last edition in 2018 in New Zealand.

Squad: Priyam Garg (capt), Dhruv Jurel (vice-capt & wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Divyaansh Saxena, Shashwat Rawat, Divyansh Joshi, Shubhang Hegde, Ravi Bishnoi, Akash Singh, Kartik Tyagi, Atharva Ankolekar, Kumar Kushagra (wk), Sushant Mishra, Vidyadhar Patil.

More to follow...