17-year-old in Tamil Nadu team on Dravid’s advice

After Mumbai, it’s now Tamil Nadu who have backed a young cricketer upon receiving a “positive feedback” from India U19 coach Rahul Dravid. It was Dravid’s words that saw Mumbai teen sensation Prithvi Shaw make the Mumbai Ranji squad.

Similarly, the Tamil Nadu selection committee on Thursday picked 17-year-old top-order batsman S Radhakrishnan in a 16-man squad led by Vijay Shankar for the upcoming Vijay Hazare one-day tournament which is scheduled to played in Cuttack from February 25.

Radhakrishnan scored a vital 65 in his maiden India U19 match to help his team register a tie against the visiting England U19 team earlier this month.

TN chairman of selectors S Sharath revealed that the excellent report from Dravid and junior chairman of selectors Venkatesh Prasad ensured Radhakrishnan made the cut. “The reports from Dravid and Prasad have been excellent. More than Dravid, I spoke at length to Prasad. He gave a positive feedback about the boy . He said that his adaptability and thinking process is very good. Our coaches Hrishikesh Ka nitkar and L Balaji too had a lot of good things to say about him. He has done well for India U19 and I guess that’s good enough to prove his quality ,” Sharath said.

Squad: Vijay Shankar (c), Dinesh Karthik, V Ganga Sridhar Raju, B Indrajith, B Aparajith, M Kaushik Gandhi, N Jagadeesan, A Ashwin Crist, M Mohammed, W Anthony Dhas, R Rohit, Rahil S Shah, M Ashwin, Sai Kishore, Washington Sundar, S Radhakrishnan