However, his debut innings did not turn out to be as magical as the story leading up to this moment.
The Australia Under-19 team is currently hosting India for three Youth ODIs, followed by two multi-day matches, which kicked off on September 21 in Brisbane. Interestingly, an Indian-origin youngster, Aryan Sharma, has kept his promise to idol Virat Kohli by making it to the Australia U19’s playing XI against Ayush Mhatre and Co. in the series opener.
An 11-year-old boy had come to witness the electrifying Boxing Day Test at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground, popularly known as the MCG, during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) series in 2018. He had randomly predicted the year 2025 to make his debut for the nation and pledged to his “inspiration” Kohli, who was leading the Indian side towards their maiden BGT series win on Australian soil.
Seven years later, Aryan, who will soon turn 18, has lived that dream to represent Australia. Coincidentally, it happened to be in the same year that his younger self had predicted and also against the nation to which he belonged. However, his debut innings did not turn out to be as magical as the story leading up to this moment.
India’s Kanishk Chouhan, who continued a similar fierce form from the recent England outing, dismissed Aryan for just 10 runs off 14 deliveries. The all-rounder also went wicketless in his four-over spell, conceding 36 runs at an economy of 9.00.
ALSO READ:
After securing a 2-3 victory in the five-match YODI series and levelling the two Youth Tests against the England U19, India’s youngsters also started their tour of Australia with a similar dominating show. After electing to bat first at the Ian Healy Oval Stadium, the hosts could only manage to put up a total of 225/9 on the scoreboard after 50 overs.
Henil Patel starred with a brilliant three-wicket haul, while Kanishk and Kishan Kumar scalped two apiece. All-rounder RS Ambrish also dismissed another Indian-origin player, Yash Deshmukh, for a four-ball duck. While chasing the low target, the young sensation of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, provided a pulsating start to the innings with his 22-ball 38, at a blistering strike rate of 172.72.
The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) prodigy and the captain of the side, Mhatre, fell for just six runs, but the middle-order duo of Vedant Trivedi (61*) and Abhigyan Kundu (87*) notched up a match-winning 152*-run partnership off just 126 balls. These two teams will once again go head-to-head in the second fixture on September 24.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
