The BCCI has sent reinforcements to the Caribbean in a move to support the U-19 Indian team that has been devastated by COVID-19.
The U-19 Indian team had to isolate five players
Five under 19 players are being flown to West Indies on Friday night as the backups to the U-19 Indian team which had to isolate five players including the captain after the outbreak of COVID-19 within the camp.
The five players are Abhishek Porel (Bengal), Uday Saharan (Punjab), Rishith Reddy (Hyderabad), Ansh Gosai (Saurashtra), and PM Singh Rathore (Rajasthan). The five backup players will join the U-19 team in Trinidad where the team is scheduled to face off Uganda in the third and final Group B game on Saturday
Talking about the stats of backup players, Saharan who is a right-handed batsman & an Off-spinner has played for Punjab U-16, U-19 & India B under 19 teams while the Bengal team’s Abhishek Porel has scored over 700 runs in five Cooch Behar games recently. Reddy is a medium pacer who has played for Hyderabad Under 16, Under 19, and India A Under 19 teams. Gosai is an outstanding right-handed batsman from Rajkot who has played India B Under 19 whereas Rathore is a medium-pacer from Rajasthan.
BCCI have informed media that backup players are being flown to the Caribbean
According to reports, no formal request has been made from the Indian team management to the ICC for replacements for the isolated players but the sources close to BCCI have informed media that backup players are being flown to the Caribbean.
“The team management will take the final call if any of them will have to be included in the official squad,” a BCCI official, who is conversant with the development, told this website on Friday.
Earlier we have reported that five Indian players were forced into isolation after returning positive in RT-PCR tests ahead of their fixture against Ireland. All those five players continue to be in isolation which clearly means that they will miss the Uganda Match which is India’s final match in the league stage.
India who is the favourite to win the title has gone into the U-19 World Cup with a full-fledged 17 member squad but they barely managed to field XI players for the Ireland game due to COVID-19. But still, India managed to win that match, they now look in a comfortable position as they have already reserved their place in the U-19 World Cup quarterfinals which will begin on January 26.