Mumbai’s Ayush Mhatre will skipper a 17-member India Under-19 squad on a five-match trip to Australia, starting 21 September at Norths. The schedule is straightforward: three one-dayers on 21, 24 and 26 September, followed by two four-day games – the first still at Norths from 30 September and the second in Mackay from 7 October.
Selectors have mixed continuity with a couple of fresh calls. Four players from the recent England series – Maulyarajsinh Chavda, Yudhajit Guha, Pranav Raghavendra and Mohammed Enaan – miss out; Vedant Trivedi, Khilan Patel, Udhav Mohan and Aman Chauhan step in. Khilan, who sat out the England trip with a stress reaction in his right leg, is back fit. Punjab opener Vihaan Malhotra, solid in both formats on that England tour, has been promoted to vice-captain.
Chief selector S Sharath explained in a board release, “The tour is meant to test the boys in conditions that demand a bit more pace and bounce awareness.” He added that rotating a few spots keeps competition “healthy and honest”.
Mhatre’s numbers backed up the armband call. The right-hander plundered 340 runs in four Youth Tests in England, despite both matches being rain-hit draws. “Captaincy is an extra responsibility but also a privilege,” he told the BCCI media team. “I’m keen to see how our group adapts to Aussie conditions.”
At the top of the order he is likely to be joined by 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who grabbed headlines during IPL 2025 for fearless stroke-play. Suryavanshi topped the one-day charts in England with 355 runs. Off-spinner Kanishk Chouhan (leading wicket-taker in that ODI leg) and seamer R S Ambrish, who picked up six wickets in the Youth Tests, retain their places.
Wicketkeeper-batters Harvansh Singh Pangalia and Abhigyan Kundu give the side flexibility, while left-arm spinner Anmoljeet Singh bolsters slow-bowling options alongside Chouhan. Stand-bys Guha, Laxman, B K Kishore, Alankrith Rapole and Arnav Bugga will train in Bengaluru and can be flown in if required.
India blanked Australia’s U-19s in both one-day and four-day series at home last season. Nobody inside the camp is reading too much into that, assistant coach Hemang Badani warned. “Australian age-group sides are very different in their own backyard,” he said. “It’ll swing early in the one-dayers, then flatten out, and there’ll be pace and carry through the four-dayers. Good learning territory.”
Squad (17): Ayush Mhatre (capt), Vihaan Malhotra (vice-capt), Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Vedant Trivedi, Rahul Kumar, Abhigyan Kundu (wk), Harvansh Singh (wk), R S Ambrish, Kanishk Chouhan, Naman Pushpak, Henil Patel, D Deepesh, Kishan Kumar, Anmoljeet Singh, Khilan Patel, Udhav Mohan, Aman Chauhan.
Stand-by: Yudhajit Guha, Laxman, B K Kishore, Alankrith Rapole, Arnav Bugga.
Five games in just over a fortnight will keep the group busy, yet the management insists there is room to shuffle combinations. As Badani put it, “We’re not chasing results alone; we’re after growth. If we tick that box, the scoreboards tend to look after themselves.”
