U19 World Cup 2022: Aaradhya Yadav included in India squad as Vasu Vats' replacement

The ICC has confirmed that the Event Technical Committee of the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2022 has approved Aaradhya Yadav as a replacement for Vasu Vats in the India squad.

Vats has sustained a hamstring injury and will be unable to take any further part in the event. The replacement of a player requires the approval of the Event Technical Committee before the replacement player can be officially added to the squad.

The Event Technical Committee consists of the Chair Chris Tetley (ICC Head of Events), Ben Leaver (ICC Senior Event Manager), Fawwaz Baksh (Tournament Director) Roland Holder (CWI Representative) Alan Wilkins and Russel Arnold (both independent representatives).

India will face Bangladesh on 29 January in the Super League quarter-final at Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua and Barbuda.

COVID-positive players return for India

Meanwhile, India have also been boosted with the return of their captain Yash Dhull and vice-captain Shaikh Rasheed along with two other players who had tested positive for COVID-19. These players missed the last two group matches against Ireland and Uganda but the rest of the squad made light work of these teams to register massive wins.

However, Nishant Sandhu who led India in the absence of Dhull and Rasheed has now tested positive for the virus and will be unavailable for quarter-final and semi-final if India wins against Bangladesh. India now have 21 players to choose from including the five travelling reserves who were flown in after as many players tested positive for COVID-19 around 10 days ago.

As far as Bangladesh are concerned, they ended up second in their group and will take confidence from the fact that they had beaten India in the final of the last World Cup edition. The winner of this encounter will meet Australia in the semi-final who defeated Pakistan on Friday (January 28) by 119 runs.