Mumbai, Dec 6 – Rajasthan’s Ashok Menaria will lead the India under-19 cricket team in the 2010 World Cup, being held in New Zealand from Jan 15-30.

The squad announced Sunday it will also take a short tour to South Africa before the World Cup.

Defending champions India play their opening match against Afghanistan Jan 15 in Lincoln. They then face Hong Kong in Christchurch Jan 17 and play their final game of the group A against England, Jan 21.

The top two teams in each group will move to the quarter-finals.

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.