Indian squad for the 2018 Under-19 World Cup: Know your team

The under-19 World Cup has always provided a platform for the young and upcoming talents to prove themselves at the top level. The tournament has produced several talents in the past which include the likes of Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Kohli, Steve Smith, Joe Root, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Virender Sehwag etc.

The next edition of the tournament is set to take place in New Zealand in 2018 and the teams have already started their preparations for it.

India, who finished as the runners-up in 2016, are placed alongside Zimbabwe, PNG and Australia in Group B. Prithvi's boys start their campaign against Australia on January 14 followed by PNG and Zimbabwe on January 16 and January 19 respectively. All the three league matches featuring India will take place at the Bay Oval in Tauranga.

Indian squad: Prithvi Shaw (captain), Shubman Gill, Himanshu Rana, Abhishek Sharma, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ishan Porel, Shivam Mavi, Riyan Parag, Aryan Juyal, Harvik Desai (WK), Arshdeep Singh, Shiva Singh, Pankaj Yadav, Anukul Roy and Manjot Kalra.

Not many will be aware of who these guys are. Let us take a look at who every single member of the Indian under-19 team for the 2018 World Cup is.

Shiva Singh

Arshdeep Singh

Arshdeep Singh, who stands tall at a towering 6'2", is a left-arm pacer from Punjab. He claimed 13 wickets in Vinoo Mankad Trophy for Punjab apart from claiming 19 wickets in five matches for Chandigarh in the Punjab Inter-District ODI Championship for DP Azad Trophy this year. Arshdeep also played for India Red in Challenger trophy this week where he picked up seven wickets, including a five-wicket haul.

Shiva Singh

Shiva Singh is an 18-year-old is an 18-year-old slow left-arm spinner from Uttar Pradesh. Shiva was the star of the show for India against England in Taunton as he helped Prithvi and his bows win the match and take a 4-0 lead by taking five wickets for 38 runs.

Shivam Mavi

Shivam Mavi is a right-arm medium pacer, who can contribute with the bat lower down the order. Though he has played a lot of matches for the under-19, he is yet to play a single match for his state Uttar Pradesh.

Anukul Roy

Anukul Roy

Anukul Roy, who turned 19 last week, is a slow left-arm bowler from Jharkhand and is also capable of contributing with the bat lower down the order. During India's tour of England, he took ten wickets in four matches including two four-wicket hauls and played a big role to play in India's 5-0 win. He will be expected to do the same thing in NewZealand next year as well. Unfortunately, he wasn't picked in the Jharkhand side for the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy.

Manjot Kalra

Manjot Kalra is an 18-year-old batsman from Delhi who has represented the Indian under-19 side in five List A and two first-class matches this year. Last month, Manjot had some of the worst time in his career as he was asked to undergo age-verification tests by the DDCA in spite of being cleared by the BCCI, thanks to multiple complaints of age-fudging.

Riyan Parag

Middle-order batsman Riyan Parag did reasonably well for India in the youth Tests against England earlier this year and failed to replicate his success since then. However, he looked good in the under-19 Challengers Trophy before the squad was picked. He made his T20, List A debut for Assam last year and made his first

Pankaj Yadav

Pankaj Yadav

One of the most inspiring stories from the Indian under-19 World Cup should the one of Pankaj Singh. The 18-year-old hails from a Naxalite affected area in Jharkhand and is the son of a milkman. He is yet to play for Jharkhand senior team.

Aryan Juyal

Aryan Juyal is a 16-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman from Uttrakhand who was rewarded for his efforts in the Cooch Behar Trophy. He is yet to make his senior debut for Uttrakhand or any other team. This is his first under-19 team call-up.

Harvik Desai

Harvik Desai, the 18-year-old wicketkeeper from Saurashtra, is set to be team's first-choice gloveman. He made his List A debut for his team earlier this year and played five matches so far.

Ishan Porel

Bengal pacer Ishan Porel is an integral part of the Indian team as his experience of playing among the seniors will come in handy for Prithvi and co. when they take the field in New Zealand.

Ishan is having a memorable debut season in Ranji Trophy as he has already taken 13 wickets at an average of just over 21 in five innings. He is likely to miss the under-19 camp in Bengaluru to take part in the Ranji Trophy semi-final against Delhi.

Kamlesh Nagarkoti

England U19's v India U19's - 5th ODI

Kamlesh Nagarkoti burst onto the scene by taking a hat-trick in just his second List A game. After that, there was no turning back for the 17-year-old as he was picked in the Indian under-23 squad for the AFC Emerging Players tournament that took place in Bangladesh.

He also had a very good tour of England where he picked five-wicket hauls in each innings of the first Youth Test at Chesterfield and made meaningful contributions with both bat and ball in the rest of the tour.

He has been the spearhead of the Indian under-19 team and with the under-19 World Cup fast approaching, a lot of eyes will be on him as he is likely to feature in the playing XI and take the new ball for the Boys in Blue.

Himanshu Rana

England U19's v India U19's

Himanshu Rana, who opens the batting with Prithvi Shaw, is one of the most experienced members of the teams. After making his debut for Haryana as a 16-year-old, Himanshu has played 15 first-class games and 12 limited-over games for his state.

He is a reliable batsman, who has been gifted with grace and timing, something that not every batsman can possess. He has scored 792 runs in 15 matches for Haryana in the first-class format and in the T20 format, he has scored 172 runs in 10 innings at an average of 20 and a strike-rate of 120.

With Prithvi looking to take on the bowlers early on, Himanshu's role will be crucial and he will look to anchor the innings and make the batsmen bat around him.

Abhishek Sharma

England U19's v India U19's - 5th ODI

Making it to the Punjab under-16 side, getting promoted to the under-19 level, representing the India under-19 side and captaining the team in the Asia Cup; all this happened in the space of a year for a young 16-year-old all-rounder from Punjab, Abhishek Sharma, who has been picked in the Indian side for the 2018 under-18 World Cup.

The Punjab all-rounder, who bats left-handed, ended the tournament with 1200 runs, the most by any batsman, in 12 innings, with an average of 112.33. With the ball, the slow left-armer bagged 59 wickets in just seven matches at an average of just over 10 and emerged as the highest wicket-taker in the 2016 Vijay Merchant Trophy.

After that, there was no turning back for him as he reached greater heights as mentioned above and went on to make his debut for Punjab earlier this season. The 17-year-old Abhishek will have a key role to play with both bat and ball in the World Cup next year.

Shubman Gill

England U19's v India U19's - 5th ODI

Just like Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill is a vital cog in India's wheel in the under-19 World Cup early next year. The Punjab batsman bats at number three for the Indian under-19 team and when India toured England earlier this year, he scored 278 runs in just four innings at an average of 93 and a strike-rate of over 100.

Prior to that all-important tour, the Poms visited India and Shubman didn't miss out on an opportunity to pile on the runs against them as he scored 351 runs in just 4 innings at an average of 117 and a strike-rate of 105.

He made his first-class debut for Punjab in the ongoing Ranji Trophy and has already accumulated 245 runs in two matches at an average of 62. With Prithvi holding the key for India in the tournament, the bowlers will tend to concentrate more on the Mumbaikar and Shubman will look to cash in on that and make a strong case for himself.

Prithvi Shaw

England U19's v India U19's - 5th ODI

This man needs no introduction. In 2013, he broke into the limelight by scoring 546 runs in an innings in a school tournament, the highest score by anyone at that level. He always had the potential but the question was whether he can make a successful transformation from school cricket to professional cricket as there were instances of few kids showing early promise and then leaving the scene.

But, Prithvi made that transformation successfully as he set the Indian domestic circuit on fire in his first full season. In just eight first-class matches for Mumbai and one of the three Duleep Trophy sides, Prithvi has amassed 945 runs at an average of 63 at an extraordinary strike-rate of 75.

As expected, Prithvi is set to lead the Indian side in the under-19 World Cup and he has a big role to play in the tournament. A successful tournament for the Mumbaikar at the top of the order will help him gain big strides and get him closer to a national call-up.