Mumbai, Dec 9 (IANS) The Indian under-19 team will play a tri-series in South Africa before heading for New Zealand to take part in the Jan 15-30 World Cup, it was announced Wednesday.
The Indian cricket board said that Sri Lanka would be the third team in the series and all the matches will be played in Johannesburg.

India, the defending champions, will play four matches in the series, two each against the hosts and Sri Lanka. The final is slated for Jan 5.

Rajasthan’s Ashok Menaria will lead the side.

India will also play warm-up matches against local teams in the run up to the series.

India play their opening match against Afghanistan Jan 15 in Lincoln. They face Hong Kong in Christchurch Jan 17 and play their final Group A game Jan 21 against England.

Squad: Ashok Menaria (captain), Mandeep Singh (vice captain), Mayank Agarwal, Akshath Reddy, Harpreet Singh, K.L. Rahul, Sufiyan Sheikh, Zahid Ali, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkad, Sandeep Sharma, Saurav Netrawalkar, Harmeet Singh, Manan Sharma, Gaurav Jathar.