Even before the squad for the U19 World Cup was announced, it was confirmed that Shubham Gill would be a part of it as Punjab player had done his bit to be part of the side.
He had already made it to the big leagues of India A and was a star performer for India U19 on tour of England where he emerged out as the highest run-scorer by scoring 278 runs in four youth ODIs at an average of 92.66. His strike rate was 100.36, and he scored a century and a half-century apiece. In the youth Test series that followed, he notched up 174 runs at 43.50 in four innings.
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‘The only doubt which prevailed that whether who would be appointed as the Vice-Captain of the side or not. There were three contenders for the job in the form of Himanshu Rana, Abhishek Sharma and Shubham himself and finally, the responsibility fell on his shoulders,
“It is a new path. Being named as vice-captain of the Indian U-19 team for the ICC U-19 World Cup is a different feeling. Becoming the fourth youngest centurion for Punjab in Ranji Trophy last month meant a lot for me. Harbhajan Singh paji boosted my confidence during the match. Our Punjab coach Ajay Ratra too has been a motivational force. Bagging the man of the series award in England earlier this year also meant a lot to me,” Gill told Indianexpress.com.
It was a side strain which he suffered during the Punjab Ranji Trophy camp that didn’t just keep him out of action from India A, but he also missed few games for both India U19 and Punjab as well.
He was the just the second player along with Prithvi Shaw who was allowed to play Ranji Trophy instead of U19 Challenger Trophy and he didn’t disappoint. In two first-class games, Gill has scored 245 runs and has a century to his name as well, which came in his third first class-innings.
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Going into the World Cup, the success of the team heavily depends on four players Prithvi Shaw, Shubham Gill, Himanshu Rana and Abhishek Sharma. All the players have played Ranji Trophy and have honed their lessons in senior leagues. Amongst these, Himanshu has been playing the seniors league from past three seasons and is the most experienced player in the squad.
India will face Australia, PNG and Zimbabwe in the first three league stage games and depend on the results of the team in these contests, the path of India U19 will be decided in the tournament.
In 2016, India ended up as the runner-up after losing out to Windies in the final in a low scoring thriller.
Squad: Prithvi Shaw (Captain), Shubham Gill (VC), Manjot Kalra, Himanshu Rana, Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, Aryan Juyal, Harvik Desai, Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ishan Porel, Arshdeep Singh, Ankul Roy, Shiva Singh, Pankaj Yadav.
Standbys –
Om Bhosle, Rahul Chahar, Ninad Rathva, Urvil Patel, Aditya Thakare.
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