Calcutta: Rewarded for his consistent performances, wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan has been appointed captain of the Indian team for the upcoming U-19 World Cup, to be held in Bangladesh from January 27 next year.

Rishabh Pant, also a left-handed batsman as well as a ’keeper and is from Delhi, was named as his deputy by the Venkatesh Prasad-headed national junior selection committee, which met in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Kishan’s numbers in the recent matches for India U-19 are certainly not staggering, but he has captained the team to back-to-back tri-series titles of late — first in a tournament involving Bangladesh and Afghanistan U-19 teams and next, in Sri Lanka that featured the hosts and England. 

Coach Rahul Dravid, too, has praised the Jharkhand  player’s calm and cool approach and the hard yards he puts in behind batting and wicketkeeping. For a 17-year-old, having a first-class average of 40.88 certainly speaks quite a bit of his abilities as a batsman. 

The Indian squad includes six batsmen apart from Kishan and Rishabh — Washington Sundar, Sarfaraz Khan, Amandeep Khare, Anmolpreet Singh, Armaan Jaffer and Ricky Bhui. Washington had finished as the leading run-scorer of the tri-series in Sri Lanka. 

THE SQUAD

Ishan Kishan (captain), Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Sarfaraz Khan, Amandeep Khare, Anmolpreet Singh, Arman Jaffer, Ricky Bhui, Mayank Dagar, Zeeshan Ansari, Mahipal Lomror, Avesh Khan, Shubham Mavi, Khaleel Ahmed and Rahul Batham.