Know Vijay Hari Zol, future of Indian cricket

New Delhi: With the retirement of some of the legends Indian cricketers like Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, BCCI infused new blood in to Team India and its paying off also. In a cricket crazy nation like India, there is no dearth of talents and 19 year old Vijay Hari Zol is one of them whom we may see playing for Team India in near future.This left handed middle-order batsman plays for Maharashtra. India U-19 skipper Zol was in lime light last week for his ton against Pakistan U-19 in Asia cup which India won.In December 2011, in an Under-19 first-class match for Maharashtra cricket team Maharashtra. Zol scored an unbeaten 451 off 467 deliveries, batting for almost eleven hours and hit 53 boundaries and two sixes in that record-breaking innings.Though there are no official records to verify exactly where he stands in the record books in youth cricket, Zol's score was higher than Bhausaheb Nimbalkar's landmark 443 the highest first-class score by an Indian set in 1948 during a Ranji Trophy match between Maharashtra and Saurashtra cricket team.Previously, he scored double-century came against Gujarat in the leagues stages of 2010's Vijay Merchant tournament. He was appointed as vice-captain of the team for 2012 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Australia. His batting at number 3 was well appreciated by cricketing greats.In 2012, ZOL signed a youth contract with the IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore. He was in red-hot form having posted scores of 128, 173 and 128 in 2013. He produced another compelling batting display blasting 10 fours and two sixes during his 115-ball 103.Under his captaincy India under-19 team won the Quadrangular Series in 2013-14. Out of 6 matches played in the tournament India won 4 of them and 1 match ended without any result. Zol was the top run-scorer for India in the final as India crushed South Africa by 201 runs.He made his List “A” debut in February 2012 against Baroda. He scored 27 off 44 balls with 5 fours in his first visit to crease. In 2013, he was named in the India “A” squad for the long-format matches against the touring New Zealand “A” team. Zol scored a maiden century on his first-class debut in his 1st unofficial Test at Visakhapatnam.He was the best Under-16 Cricketer 2011 and got MA Chidambaram Award for the Best U-19 Cricketer.