Mumbai's teenaged left-arm spinner Musheer Khan and middle-order batsman Aditya Pawar were not part of the U-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy-winning team for a few initial games.

However, after both were included in the team, they not only gelled well as room partners, but also helped the team emerge champions.

Musheer was not even in the team's plans as he was banned by the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) for three years (from February 2018) for disciplinary reasons. However, he travelled to Delhi, Meerut, Bangalore and Moradabad to get match practice.