Lanka a perfect pitch for U-19 team

Jul 23, 2011 - Arun George |

Kochi

Tags:

cricket

The bags are packed, the flight is ready for takeoff and the boys are all charged up to ruffle their whites.

Having qualified to play in the elite division for the first time, the Kerala under-19 cricket team start a preparatory tour to Sri Lanka on August 1.

The 15-member State team, captained by Abishek Mohan, is currently undergoing a week-long conditioning camp in the State capital and will set out for their 20-day tour of the island nation where they play three 3-dayers and three one-dayers, including matches against the Sri Lankan under-19 board XI.

“The idea of the tour is to prepare our boys for the inter-State matches in the upcoming season, where we will play against strong teams, such as Delhi, Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand,” says coach M. Rajagopal.

“This is the second time our under-19 boys are touring Sri Lanka, but, this year we play against stronger oppositions and that will help us raise our game as we go into the elite division,” he adds.

In the last season, the under-19 boys had an unbeaten run, winning against Goa, Vidarbha and Andhra Pradesh and drawing against Orissa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and the classy Rajasthan.
A few outstanding performances had paved way for the unprecedented triumph.

Those who showed great promise include Sanju Viswanath, Abishek, Salmon Sebastian and Midhun P K. While Sanju scored three centuries in the season and has been included in the India under-19 probable list, Abishek was the pick of all south Indian bowlers, scalping 26 wickets.

Sanju says, “We had a great season and now we have the Sri Lankan tour coming up, which will be challenging. We had a similar tour last year and that helped us qualify to the elite division. This year we hope to improve our performance.”

Abishek, who along with seven other members of the present team had toured Sri Lanka last year said the cricket culture there is overwhelming.

The IPL had put Kerala’s cricketing prodigy in the limelight in the form of Raiphi Vincent Gomez and Prasanth Padmana-bhan and it is now time for the junior boys to swing into action.

Kerala u-19 team

Abishek Mohan (captain)

Sanju Viswanath (vice captain)

Akshay Chandran

Atul Diamond Sowri

Renjith R S

Salmon Sebastian

Nithin Jacob Philip

Jackson Cleetus

Nikhilesh Surendran

Syam Sankar S

Saly Vishwanath

Fabid Farook Ahmed

Navneeth Jose

Midhun P K

Vishnu N Babu

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