I'm famous now because of my son: Priyam Garg's father

Meerut: Priyam Garg's selection as the skipper of the U-19 World Cup has made his father extremely proud, saying that people now know him because of his son's achievement.

On Sunday, the junior selection committee announced that Priyam would be leading India in the upcoming U-19 World Cup, slated to begin from January 17 next year.

"I am very happy, what I truly wanted has finally happened. I can now walk with pride and it is all because of my son. People did not know about me, but now they know about me and it is all because of Priyam. What I taught my son, he still follows it," Priyam's father Rajesh Garg told ANI.

"Priyam always wanted to play cricket, he was enthusiastic about cricket right from his childhood. I hope he performs well in the upcoming tournament, he was very naughty in his childhood. Wherever he used to go, he carried his bat. I found out yesterday that Priyam has been made the skipper of the U-19 side," he added.

Priyam's brother, Shivam said that his brother has always been passionate about playing cricket and he expressed his desire to see his brother playing for the Virat-Kohli led team one day.

"Priyam has struggled a lot and he has always taught that struggle is necessary for everyone's lives. He has always been passionate about cricket, he used to find ways to spend the maximum amount of time on the field, I hope that he plays for senior Indian team under the leadership of Virat Kohli," Shivam said.

The 13th edition of the World Cup will be played between 16 teams, split into four groups.

India is placed in Group A with first-time qualifier Japan, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. The defending champions India will take on Sri Lanka in their opening match of the tournament.

The top two teams from each group will then qualify for the Super League stage.

India U19 squad for World Cup: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Divyaansh Saxena, Priyam Garg (Captain), Dhruv Chand Jurel (vice-captain & wicket-keeper), Shashwat Rawat, Divyansh Joshi, Shubhang Hegde, Ravi Bishnoi, Akash Singh, Kartik Tyagi, Atharva Ankolekar, Kumar Kushagra (wicket-keeper), Sushant Mishra, Vidyadhar Patil

Ahead of the World Cup, India U19 will travel to South Africa for three one-day matches against the Proteas U19 followed by a Quadrangular Series featuring South Africa U19, India U19, Zimbabwe U19 and New Zealand U19.