A die hard Indian cricket fan, still seething about the recent losses ! – look elsewhere, India has beaten SA quite comprehensively.
It is all about ‘2022 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup’ currently underway in West Indies sixteen teams taking part. It is the fourteenth edition of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup, and the first to be held in the West Indies. In Nov 2021, the International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed the full schedule for the tournament, with matches to be played in Antigua, Guyana, Saint Kitts, and Trinidad; the final will be played at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua. New Zealand decided to withdraw from the tournament due to the extensive mandatory quarantine restrictions for minors on their return home, with Scotland named as their replacement.[6] Bangladesh are the defending champions.
In the 4 member group – India has alongside South Africa, Ireland and Uganda. In the first match India beat Sout Africa by 45 runs and later thumped Ireland by 174 runs. Today they are playing Uganda, with Covid taking a heavy toll !!
A day after India called up reinforcements in the form of five reserve players to be flown into the Caribbean for the Under-19 World Cup following a Covid-19 outbreak in the camp, the team has made an additional change to the squad: right-arm seamer Vasu Vats has been approved by the event technical committee as a temporary Covid replacement for right-arm fingerspinner Manav Parakh. The BCCI had originally named Vats in their 17-member squad for the tournament, but ESPNcricinfo understands that the group was divided into 15 main squad members and two traveling reserves. Vats was part of the second category, along with batter Aaradhya Yadav. Both Vats and Aaradhya were in the group of six that had isolated on Wednesday prior to the game against Ireland. But, while Aaradhya has since tested positive for Covid-19, Vats has returned negative tests. That made him the only available option to be added to the squad before India's final group-stage game, against Uganda on Saturday. That has taken the number of available players for India to 12.
On Friday, the BCCI had sent five players - Uday Saharan, Abishek Porel, Rishith Reddy, Ansh Gosai and Pushpendra Singh Rathore - as cover to the Caribbean, but they were not going to be available for the Uganda fixture since they have to serve mandatory quarantine after landing in the West Indies. However, they could be used as either temporary or permanent squad replacements if India so need ahead of their quarter-final on January 29.
Sooner, the Nation would be plunged in the day-to-day bash of IPL 2022. The auctions would soon be underway. David Warner, the Player of the Tournament at the recent T20 World Cup, and his Australian team-mate Mitchell Marsh, who was the Player of the Match in the final, are among 49 players who have listed their base price at the maximum of INR 2 crore (US$ 269,000 approx.) for the 2022 mega IPL auction. Among the notable absentees from the initial longlist, seen by ESPNcricinfo, are Mitchell Starc, Sam Curran, Ben Stokes, Chris Gayle, Jofra Archer and Chris Woakes.
Among the big names on the list, which includes 17 Indians and 32 overseas players, are R Aswhin, Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan, Ishan Kishan, Suresh Raina, Pat Cummins, Adam Zampa, Steven Smith, Shakib Al Hasan, Mark Wood, Trent Boult, Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada and Dwayne Bravo. Overall, a total of 1214 cricketers, including 270 capped players, 312 uncapped players and 41 from Associate teams, have registered for the auction.
This will be the first mega auction conducted by the IPL since 2018, when the tournament featured eight teams. This auction, there are two more teams after the IPL sold two new franchises - to be based in Lucknow and in Ahmedabad - last October for record sums.
Moving on to U19 WC, today at the time of posting it is innings break. Raj Bawa recorded an unbeaten 162 off just 108 balls sending bowlers helter-skelter becoming the highest individual scorer for India in U19WC – also setting a record for the fastest 150 in the history of WC – sure, we are to see a lot of him sooner !!
With regards – S Sampathkumar
22.1.2022
