Anika Kolan, who previously served as USA's vice-captain at the same tournament in 2023, will lead the side on their second appearance at the tournament in Malaysia next January. 

File photo credit: Peter Della Penna

By Peter Della Penna (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
Anika Kolan, who served as vice-captain for USA’s inaugural trip to the ICC Women’s U19 T20 World Cup held in South Africa in 2023, has been chosen to captain a 15-player USA squad for the 2025 ICC Women’s U19 World Cup in Malaysia. 
 
Northern California native Kolan, 18, is one of eight players who took the field for USA in the previous tournament in South Africa. Among the others is New Jersey’s Aditi Chudasama, the current USA Women’s senior team captain who will serve as Kolan’s vice-captain in Malaysia. Along with Kolan and Chudasama as U19 World Cup veterans are Chudasama’s fellow New Jersey teammate Disha Dhingra, the St Louis, Missouri duo of Pooja Ganesh and Ritu Singh, Texan Pooja Shah, and Northern California representatives Isani Vaghela and Suhani Thadani. 
 
Four players who were a part of USA’s 2023 U19 World Cup squad who also have USA Women’s senior team experience and were still eligible for selection for the 2025 ICC Women’s U19 T20 World Cup – Laasya Mullapudi, Sai Eyyunni, Taranum Chopra and Snigdha Paul – were not selected. Paul, 18, left Texas over the summer to move to India in an effort to further her cricket career opportunities. 
 
Five players who were not part of the 2023 U19 World Cup squad will take part in January’s U19 World Cup after having previously toured with the USA Women’s senior team. They are the Northern California trio of Chetnaa Prasad, Maahi Madhavan and Saanvi Immadi, Washington, DC area representative Lekha Shetty and 16-year-old Southern California allrounder Chetna Reddy Padygyala, who made history in October when she became the second youngest player (behind Ireland’s Amy Hunter) to make a century on debut in Women’s ODI cricket with her unbeaten 136 not out against Zimbabwe at Harare. It was also the first ever century scored by a USA Women’s player in any format. 
 
The other two spots in the USA squad belong to Florida player Sasha Vallabhaneni and Nikhar Doshi. Originally from North Carolina, Doshi has spent the past three years in Sydney, Australia where she represents Parramatta CC in the Brewer Shield, Sydney’s Grade competition for age group women’s players. Doshi is the younger sister of Smit Doshi, who was part of the USA Men’s U19 World Cup Qualifier squad in Canada in 2017. The Doshis become the second sibling duo to represent USA at junior level following Vaghela and her older brother Vatsal. 
 
The USA Women’s U19 squad are currently taking part in a preparation camp before departing for South Africa in the first week of January for a warm-up tour prior to continuing on to Malaysia. Upon arrival in Malaysia, USA will have two official warm-up matches against New Zealand and Nepal on January 13 and 15 before they begin Group B play on January 18 against Pakistan. USA will then have two more matches in Group B against Ireland on January 20 and England on January 22.