Rahul Dravid Moves Away From Under-19 Selection Policy

Team India Under-19 head coach Rahul Dravid has drifted away from his own junior level selection policy.

Interestingly, Dravid earlier said that players who have received one opportunity to play Under-19 World Cup will not receive another chance.

However, Aryan Juyal and Anuj Rawat, who were part of the World Cup winning squad have received another opportunity. Consequently, both have made the cut for the Sri Lanka tour.

It makes sense to give opportunities to two wicketkeepers:

Meanwhile, both these wicketkeepers did not make it into the playing XI in the World Cup.

Moreover, Dravid had decided on the strategy for World Cup and not a regular series. Thus, it makes sense to give these players another roll of the dice.

In fact, Rawat will hold the captaincy reins in two four-day games, whereas, Juyal will lead the youth One-day International side.

“The decision has been taken by Dravid and the junior selection committee together. There is no hard and fast rule about repeating players after a U-19 World Cup,” a top BCCI official close to the development told TOI.

Interestingly, Rawat has already made his first-class debut for Delhi in the last season. Furthermore, Juyal also has played List A games for Uttar Pradesh.

Meanwhile, Rahul Dravid will miss India’s Under-19 tour of Sri Lanka.

Fondly known as ‘The Wall’, Dravid will travel with India A side for the tour of England. India A will play England Lions and Windies A in the tri-series format.

Meanwhile, Arjun Tendulkar was able to break into the four-day side of the U-19 team. WV Raman will be the head coach in the absence of Rahul Dravid.

“There was a belief that Juyal actually didn’t play the entire World Cup. The ones in the previous batch had played the entire tournament except for Zeeshan,” the official said.

It is known of a fact that Washington Sundar was dropped from the 2018 World Cup squad. The Tamil Nadu all-rounder was not selected because he had already played in the 2016 World Cup.