Guwahati, Feb. 16: The Assam Cricket Association (ACA) has infused new blood in the state's senior cricket team by selecting performers from the under-19 tournaments in the squad for the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day cricket tournament, which will be held in New Delhi from February 26.

Teenage left-arm spinner Rahul Singh, who missed a berth in the national squad despite an outstanding show in the Cooch Behar Trophy, made the cut along with paceman Mrinmoy Dutta and wicketkeeper-batsman Wasiqur Rahman.

"It has been observed that we have not been producing enough players for the reserve bench for the last few years, leading to a tight situation in the Ranji Trophy season. Therefore, we have requested the selectors to watch the potentials at their disposal to be groomed for the seasons ahead," ACA secretary Pradip Burogohain told The Telegraph this evening.

Singh had scalped more than 50 wickets in the last under-19 BCCI season.

Chennai professional Arun Karthick, who led the Assam side to a second-place finish in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 zonal tournament in Calcutta recently, has been named the skipper and seasoned pacer Abu Nechim Ahmed his deputy.

The other members in the squad are Pallav Das, Amit Verma, Amit Sinha, Pritam Debnath, Sibsaankar Roy, Syed Mohammad, Pritam Das, Arup Das, Rishav Das and Gokul Sharma.

Sources in the squad said the youngsters will travel with the team not only to be groomed, but also be tried and tested in some matches "because they are very good potentials in the limited-over formats of the game".

The development follows the ACA moving the BCCI administrators' panel for overlooking Assam colt Singh and top-order batsman Riyan Parag during the recent selection of the national squad. Riyan has been named a standby in the state squad. The other standbys include teenager Jitumoni Kalita, Hrishikesh Tamuli, Sunzow Brahma and Swarupam Purkayastha.

Immediately after the duo and a few others missed berths in the national colts side, a section of former players appealed to the ACA to entrust the former cricketers in the ACA governing body and a few others, who have had long stints in the national circuit in the past, to deal with the BCCI selectors ahead of selection meetings to get Assam players into the national sides.

Women players: Four Assam women players were named in the East Zone team for the forthcoming BCCI under-23 and senior women's tournaments.

Rekharani Bora and Anita Lodhi feature in the under-23 squad for the inter-zonal (one-day) league, to be held in Mumbai from February 20 to 25. Assam's Rita Baidya Kakati will manage the squad.

Mamtha Kanojia and Rumeli Dhar have been named in the women's zonal side for the inter-zonal (three-day) league, to be held in Raipur from March 1 to 19. Rekharani has been named a standby for the side. Assam coach and former international Anju Jain has been named the coach and Neeta Kumbang the trainer.#