Rayudu to lead India Under-19

Talented Hyderabad batsman Ambati Rayudu will lead the India Under-19 squad in the first two 'Tests' against the visiting English side later this month.

Former India paceman Venkatesh Prasad had been named coach of the 14-member team.

Bengal batsman Manoj Tiwari will be Rayudu's deputy while Baroda's Pinal Shah will keep wickets.

The series commences on January 22 with the first four-day Test in Bangalore.

Board of Control for Cricket in India joint-secretary and juniors' selection committee convenor Gautam Dasgupta said the team for the third Test (at Jamshedpur) and the one-dayers would be announced during the second Test in Kolkata.

The squad: Ambati Rayudu (capt, Hyderabad), Manoj Tiwari (vice-capt, Bengal), Pinal Shah (wk, Baroda), Robin Uthappa and Gaurav Dhiman (Karnataka), Faiz Fazal (Vidharba), Mayank Tehlan, Aditya Jain, Shikhar Dhawan (Delhi), Piyush Chawla, Avinash Yadav (UP), Hardevender Singh (Punjab), Abid Nabi (Jammu and Kashmir), Harvinder Singh (Mumbai).

Coach: Venkatesh Prasad; Physio: Dr Vaibhav Daga.

All five juniors selectors -- Pravin Amre (West zone), Anuraj Thakur (North), K Jayaraman (South), Sanjeeva Rao (Central) and Kamal Das (East) -- along with Prasad and chairman of the Talent Research Development Officers attended the meeting, Dasgupta informed.