Ayush Mhatre, Vaibhav Suryavanshi star picks for U-19 England tour

MUMBAI: Mumbai’s 17-year-old opener Ayush Mhatre was appointed captain of the India Under-19 team on Thursday for the upcoming tour of England. The squad also features Bihar’s 14-year-old sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi.Mhatre and Suryavanshi have turned heads with impressive debut IPL seasons, generating considerable excitement around their prospects.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Mhatre, picked up mid-season by MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings, has scored 206 runs in six matches at an average of 34.33, including a blazing 94 off 48 balls against RCB, and has hit 28 fours and eight sixes.Who's that IPL player?Suryavanshi, the left-handed opener from Tajpur in Samastipur, has been equally electrifying for Rajasthan Royals, smashing 252 runs in seven matches at 36.00, including a 35-ball hundred (101 off 38 balls) against Gujarat Titans and one fifty. He has struck 24 sixes and 18 fours in IPL 2025 and also scored a 58-ball century against Australia in a youth Test last year.The vice-captain of the team, wicketkeeper-batsman Abhigyan Kundu, is also from Mumbai. The 17-year-old scored an unbeaten 53 for India U-19 against Australia U-19 in a one dayer in Puducherry last Sept. Indications suggest that the junior selection committee, led by Thilak Naidu, is inclined to retain Mhatre as captain for the U-19 World Cup in Zimbabwe and Namibia in Jan next year.Mhatre has been prolific in domestic cricket since his first-class debut in Oct last year, scoring 504 runs in nine matches, including two centuries and a fifty. In seven List A games, he has accumulated 458 runs, including two hundreds.Squad: Ayush Mhatre (Captain), Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Vihaan Malhotra, Maulyarajsinh Chavda, Rahul Kumar, Abhigyan Kundu (Vice-Captain & WK), Harvansh Singh (WK), R S Ambrish, Kanishk Chouhan, Khilan Patel, Henil Patel, Yudhajit Guha, Pranav Raghavendra, Mohammed Enaan, Aditya Rana, Anmoljeet SinghStandby players: Naman Pushpak, D Deepesh, Vedant Trivedi, Vikalp Tiwari, Alankrith Rapole (WK).