MUSCAT: Aditya Gurumukhi will lead a bunch of talented Oman U19 cricketers at the forthcoming ACC U19 Premier Cup Malaysia 2023, which will be played from October 13-24.
The U19 50-over tournament, organised by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), is a qualifying event for the ACC Men's U19 Asia Cup to be held in Pakistan in December this year.
Oman have been placed in Group B in the 16-team tournament along with Qatar, China and fancied UAE.
The other three groups comprise Nepal, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Iran in Group A, Singapore, Kuwait, Thailand, and Maldives in Group C and Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan, and Indonesia in Group D. The matches will will be staged at three venues.
The top teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals.
Speaking ahead of the team’s departure, Oman coach Syed Aamir Kaleem said: “The squad is balanced with a combination of experienced and newcomers. The team has been training hard from the past two months, which included a few practice games with quality senior sides and inter-squad games to work on match situations.
“The boys are confident and positive. We are looking forward to play quality cricket in the coming few days. We certainly aim to do well and bring glory, more importantly, qualify for the Asia Cup.”
The top three teams from the tournament will qualify for the ACC Men’s U19 Asia Cup.
Squad: Aditya Gurumukhi (C), Aryan Bisht (VC), Narayana Satish, Mustaqeem Asif, Ashish Valappil, Rahil Habibulla, Varshieth Sai, Prathiesh HR, Arafat Islam, Giriharan K, Aditya Girish, Saumya Sampat, Adharsh Srinivasan, Wajih Abbas.
Officials: Coach: Syed Aamir Kaleem, assistantcoach: Amir Ali, manager: Sher Mohammed, and physio: Sarvanan T.
Oman’s games (all matches begin at 5.30am, Oman time): October 13: Oman vs Qatar (YSD UKM Oval), October 16: Oman vs UAE (YSD UKM Oval), October 18: Oman vs China (Bayuemas Oval). October 22: Semi-finals; October 24: Final and 3/4th place.