Chawla to lead Under-19 squad to New Zealand

Piyush Chawla, the Uttar Pradesh legspinner, has been chosen to lead the 16-man India Under-19 squad to New Zealand and Malaysia this month.

The U-19 side will play three 'Tests' and three one-day matches against New Zealand before heading to Malaysia for six one-dayers, two each against the England, Sri Lanka and Malaysia U-19 teams.

Chawla led the side which comprehensively beat Pakistan in September 2006, winning both the Tests and all four ODIs. He himself had a good series with the ball getting eight wickets in the Tests and 10 in the ODIs. Tanmay Srivastava, the Uttar Pradesh left-hand batsman, also had a good tour with a half-century and a double-century in the Tests. Tanmay was also part of the India Blue side for the Challenger Trophy, that ushered in India's domestic season, in October.

Missing from the squad list is Cheteshwar Pujara, 18, who also toured Pakistan. Pujara is currently playing for Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy and made a century each against Tamil Nadu and Delhi last month.

The selectors have decided that six members from the squad, which has six batsmen, four medium pacers, two spinners, two allrounders and two wicketkeepers, will return home after the New Zealand tour and six fresh players will join the squad in Malaysia.

Squad to tour New Zealand: Piyush Chawla (capt), B Sumanth, Tanmay Srivastava, Ravi Teja, Ajinkya Rahane, Gaurav Chabra, Ishant Sharma, Sumeet Sharma, K P Appanna, V Yo Mahesh, Omkar Gurav (wk), Sarabjeet Singh (wk), Dhaval Kulkarni, Virat Kohli, Abu Nacheem, Ravindra Jadeja

Replacement six for Malaysia: Sourav Tiwari, Ishwar Chaudhary, Swapnil Singh, Sunny Sohal, Anoop Revankar, Amanpreet Singh