Aditya Rana, Khilan Patel ruled out of India U-19 tour of England; Deepesh, Naman Pushpak named as replacement

MUMBAI: BCCI’s Junior Cricket Committee has announced D Deepesh and Naman Pushpak as replacements for Aditya Rana and Khilan Patel, respectively, for the upcoming India U19 tour of England, according to a media advisory from BCCI.

The series is scheduled to take place from June 24 to July 2Rana3, 2025. The month-long tour will include a 50-over warm-up match, a five-match Youth One-Day series, and two Multi-Day matches against England U19.

Both Deepesh and Naman were part of the standby players’ list for the tour. Aditya sustained a stress fracture in his lower back, while Khilan suffered a stress reaction in his right leg during the ongoing high-performance camp at the BCCI Centre of Excellence.

Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) opening batter Ayush Mhatre will lead the squad. Mhatre has impressed in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, scoring 206 runs in six games at a remarkable strike rate of 187.27.

He narrowly missed out on a well-deserved century, getting dismissed for 94 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).

The 14-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is also in the squad. The youngster made headlines this season when he smashed a 38-ball 101 against Gujarat Titans (GT) for Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Jaipur, becoming the youngest ever centurion in men’s T20 cricket.

His century, which came in just 35 balls, is now the second-fastest in IPL history. He finished the season with 252 runs in seven matches, averaging 36.00 with a phenomenal strike rate of 206.56, including one century and a half-century.

India will begin their tour with a 50-over warm-up match on June 24 at Loughborough University. The first One-Day match will be held on June 27 at Hove, followed by the second and third matches on June 30 and July 2 at Northampton. The fourth and fifth One-Dayers are scheduled for July 5 and 7 in Worcester.

Following the white-ball series, the team will play two multi-day matches. The first will take place from July 12 to 15 in Beckenham, and the second will be held from July 20 to 23 in Chelmsford.

Updated India U19 Squad: Ayush Mhatre (Captain), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Vihaan Malhotra, Maulyarajsinh Chavda, Rahul Kumar, Abhigyan Kundu (Vice-Captain & WK), Harvansh Singh (WK), R. S. Ambrish, Kanishk Chouhan, Henil Patel, Yudhajit Guha, Pranav Raghavendra, Mohammed Enaan, Anmoljeet Singh, D. Deepesh, Naman Pushpak. (ANI)