They made a mark at Vijay Merchant Trophy. Now, they will get their dues.

After guiding Jharkhand to the final of Vijay Merchant Trophy earlier this year, the awesome foursome of Virat Singh, Sonu Singh, Sumit Kumar and Prem Kumar will be heading to Bangalore-based National Cricket Academy (NCA) this month to further polish their pitch skills.

At a meeting held in New Delhi last month, the national junior selection committee selected the four for Under-16 national camp to be conducted in Bangalore from April 23 to June 3.

Jamshedpur-based Virat, who shares his name with Team India’s new batting superstar, is a talented opener. He played a pivotal role in Jharkhand’s entry into the Vijay Merchant Trophy summit clash.

The left-handed opener, who is considered as a player for big matches, has a penchant for going for the shots early in the innings.

Barring Virat, who led the state last season, the rest have received a call for the national camp for the first time. The youngster’s sibling Vishal captained the Jharkhand colt outfit in the last season.

Virat’s city-mate Sonu, a promising left-arm tweaker, is slowly learning the ropes of the tricky trade. Bokaro glovesman Sumit has also shown immense promise while Giridih’s medium-pacer Prem is also being hailed as a potential future investment.

“Virat is already an established name while Sonu, Prem and Sumit have the ability to rise to challenges. We are very hopeful about their future,” a Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) functionary said.

Cricket body assistant secretary Ashim Kumar Singh said the camp at Bangalore could well open progress doors for the young cricketers.

“The players were selected for the national camp on the basis of their performance in the Vijay Merchant Trophy (east zone league) as well as the knock-out phase. We were quite confident that they would be selected for the camp,” he added.

Contacted, an elated Virat said: “I am happy to get a call from this national camp. I would want to maintain my good form and impress all at the meet. As for the Vijay Merchant Trophy, I was in good touch in both the league and knock-out phases.”

Significantly, performance of the state Under-16 outfit was a face-saver for the state association. The team reached the finals of Vijay Merchant Trophy where it lost to Uttar Pradesh. Jharkhand also won the Vijay Merchant Trophy in 2008.

In comparison, the senior (read Ranji), Under-22 and Under-19 teams cut a sorry figure.

If Jharkhand was forced to languish in the Ranji Trophy Plate Group (read lower tier) once again, the Under-22 outfit was relegated to the lower tier, thanks to some insipid performance.

The team failed to post a single match in five outings, which speaks volumes about the calibre and temperament of the players, some of whom are considered as Ranji reserves.

The Under-19 team, on the other hand, managed to remain in the Elite Group but failed to qualify for the knock-out phase.