Chawla to lead India under-19 team on tour to New Zealand

Mumbai, Jan 3 (UNI) Leg spinner Piyush Chawla of Uttar Pradesh was today chosen captain to lead the Indian under-19 team for their tour of New Zealand beginning from January 14.

The junior selection committee met here under the chairmanship of Sanjeev Sharma to select a 16-member team for the New Zealand tour where India will play three 'Test' matches against the Kiwis under-19 team and three 'ODIs'. The team will also take part in a four-nation one-day tournament at Malaysia with England, Sri Lanka and Malaysia being the other teams.

M P Pandove, the convenor of the meeting addressing mediapersons to announce the team, said six players would be drafted in to the Malaysian ODI tournament with the six selected for the New Zealand tour coming back.

He said the changes made to the side to play the ODI tournament were being done keeping in mind the 2008 Youth World Cup.

Mr Pandove said the junior selection committee also discussed a proposal from the Administrative Head of the cricket board Prof Ratnakar Shetty suggesting sending the junior teams on tours of other countries to play the local tournaments there instead of just keeping the tours of the youth teams restricted to the reciprocal basis as was being done now. This proposal would be put forward at the next working committee for ratification, Mr Pandove added.

The under-19 team would also undergo a four-day camp at Mumbai from January 9 to 12.

The teams: For New Zealand tour: Piyush Chawla (c), B Sumanth, Tanmay Srivastava, Ravi Teja, Ajinkya Rahane, Gaurav Chabra, Ishant Sharma, Summet Sharma, K P Appanna, Yo Mahesh, Omkar Gurav, Sarabjeet Singh, Dhaval Kulkarni, Virat Kohli, Abu Nacheem, Ravindra Jadeja.

Manager: G S Walia, Coach: Lalchand Rajput, Physio: K Muthu Kumar.

For Malaysia ODI tournament: Piyush Chawla (c), B Sumanth, Tanmay Srivastava, Ravi Teja, Ishant Sharma, Summet Sharma, Yo Mahesh, Sarabjeet Singh, Virat Kohli, Abu Nacheem, Ravindra Jadeja, Sourav Tiwary, Ishwar Chaudari, Swapnil Singh, Sunny Sohal, Anup Revankar, Amanpreet Singh.

Itinerary of New Zealand tour: Jan 14: Team arrival in Christchurch Jan 17-18: Warm up game vs Cantebury County at MainPower Oval Jan 21-24: vs New Zealand 1st Youth Test at Lincoln Jan 27-30: vs New Zealand 2nd Youth Test at Carisbrook, Dunedin Feb 2-5: vs New Zealand 3rd Youth Test at Lincoln Feb 7: vs New Zealand 1st ODI match at Lincoln Feb 8: vs New Zealand 2nd ODI match at Lincoln Feb 10: vs New Zealand 3rd ODI match at Lincoln Feb 11: Departure for Malaysia from Lincoln.

UNI