USA Cricket have announced their 14-man squad for the upcoming U19 World Cup qualifiers to be held in August. Ali Sheikh, Rehman Dar, Saiteja Mukkamalla, Abhiram Valisammagari who were part of USA U19's 2019 World Qualifier campaign retain their places while the 17-year-old wicket-keeper batsman Rahul Jariwala who kept wickets at the age of 15 for USA U19 in the same tournament has been axed. American-born South African first-class cricketer Slade Van Staden has been named in the squad. Van Staden, considered one of the child prodigies in South Africa, decided to represent the country of his birth after missing out on a South Africa U19 selection tournament due to Covid.
The team's strength clearly lies in the batting riches it possesses. Mukkamalla, a very compact opening batsman and Rehman Dar are the front runners to open the batting. Former Karnataka U16 allrounder Sanjay Krishnamurthi and van Staden will form the bulwark of USA batting bringing lots of senior cricket experience. Krishnamurthi was named the MVP of the Western Conference for last season's Minor League T20 for his middle-order batting and left-arm orthodox spin. Ishan Sharma, Ali Sheikh, Ritwik Behra and Skanda Sharma fill up the rest of the middle-order slots. The selectors will be pinning their hopes heavily on Ritwik Behra. Behra has had a phenomenal run lately with the bat playing many impactful innings lower down the order with his effortless power-hitting abilities including a senior cricket hundred in the Houston Open.The USA pace battery will be spearheaded if by Rohan Posanipally, who created some social media waves after his bowling action caught the eye of Dale Steyn. Left-arm pacer Hisham Ali and fast bowling all-rounders Abhiram Valisammagari and Abhiram Bolisetty are the rest of the seam bowling options named in the squad. USA, however, will rely heavily on spin which is their stronger suit to topple the opposition. Sanjay Krishnamurthi will be the USA's stand out spinner with his impeccable control. The left-arm spin of Ali Sheikh and the wrist spin of Yasir Mohammad will be the USA's other frontline spin bowling choices.
