Virat Singh

Steel city batsman Virat Singh has been named the captain of Jharkhand U-19 team for 2013-14 Cooch Behar Trophy.

The 17-year-old left-handed opener is the younger brother of Vishal Singh, who was the skipper of the colts last season. The latter is currently part of the state U-25 team.

Virat had earlier led Jharkhand in the zonal league of Vinoo Mankad Trophy, which was held in Calcutta in October. The team, however, failed to qualify for the knockouts as three of its four matches were abandoned owing to rain.

The 16-member team announced by Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) on Wednesday is as follows: Virat Singh (captain), Ishan Kishan, Pranay Kumar, Rahil Reyaz Khan, Kaushal Singh, Mohammed Sharukh, Md Nazim Siddique, Anurag Sanjay, Sumit Kumar, Monu Kumar Singh, Krishna Patel, Jagdish Pradhan, Ronit Singh, Md Zeeshan Ali, Kaushal Kishore Singh and Shivam Tripathi.

Jharkhand, who are placed in Plate Group B, will open their campaign against Andhra Pradesh (Dec. 1-4) in Dhanbad. The state outfit plays its second match versus Goa in Bokaro (Dec. 8-11) before travelling to lock horns with Delhi (Dec. 15-18).

Jharkhand’s fourth outing will be against Assam in Ranchi (Dec. 22-25) and their final league match will be against Odisha in Jamshedpur (Dec. 29 to Jan. 1).

“We have picked a strong team after conducting camps. It is expected to do well as there are some talented young players who can perform both with the willow and the ball,” a JSCA functionary said.

The JSCA also announced the U-25 side for the tie against Himachal Pradesh, which is scheduled to be played at Amtar from November 22 to 25.

The 15-member squad comprises Keshav Kumar (captain), Vishal Singh, Ajatshatru Singh, Babul, Chandan Singh, Prakash Seet, Ashish Kumar, Jaskaran Singh, Vikas Singh, Mithun Mukherjee, Asif Fahad, Ibney Hassan Khan, Ajit Dwivedi, Maninder Singh Kalsi and Sandeep Gupta.