Rabby to lead Bangladesh’s pursuit of second U-19 World Cup

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) named a 15-man squad for the forthcoming ICC Under-19 World Cup, with all members of the ACC U-19 Asia Cup winning Bangladesh squad retaining their spots.

Mahfuzur Rahman Rabby will lead the team in the event, which will take place in South Africa from January 19.

Rabby had earlier led Bangladesh to their maiden Asia Cup title in December 2023, by defeating the UAE in the final in Dubai.

Now, the Under-19 team has a chance to regain the World Cup title which the Akbar Ali-led Bangladesh U-19 team had won for the first time in 2020 in the same country.

"We are hoping to regain the championship title," U-19 team selector Hanna Sarkar told the media at a press conference in Mirpur today.

"We were the champions in 2020. Unfortunately, we couldn't get our desired result in 2022. This time we are going there with hopes of regaining it," he added.

Bangladesh are slotted in Group A in the tournament alongside India, Ireland and the USA. The top two teams of the group will move on to the quarterfinals of this 16-team event.

The Young Tigers will start their campaign against India in Bloemfontein on January 20.

Bangladesh U-19 World Cup squad: Ashiqur Rahman Shibli, Jishan Alam, Chowdhury Md Rizwan, Adil Bin Siddik, Mohammad Asrafuzzaman, Ariful Islam, Shihab James, Ahrar Amin (vc), Shiekh Parvez Jibon, Mahfuzur Rahman Rabby (c), Md Rafi Uzzaman Rafi, Rohanat Doullah Borson, Iqbal Hasan Emon, Wasi Siddiquee, Maruf Mridha

Stand by: Nayeem Ahmed, Md Rizan Hossan, Ashraful Hasan, Tanvir Ahammed, Akanto Sheikh