The Indian Colts had a mixed day at the office on the opening day of the second youth Test against England U19 boys in Chelmsford on Monday, July 21 as they were able to bowl the hosts out but they let them breach the 300 mark despite having them four down for 46 and then also lost a wicket after a good fast start with the bat in the wee hours of the day. The batter dismissed was Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who still has to come to terms with red-ball batting.
Suryavanshi, who returned scores of 14 and 56 in the first youth Test, both knocks at a strike rate over 100, started well again on Monday with a couple of sixes and a four, however, was dismissed by Alex Green for 20 and India handed a little advantage over to England before the close of play. Suryavanshi had an 86 and a 143 on the tour so far during the 50-over matches but Test cricket requires a bit more patience and temperament to be able to spend some time in the middle and the 14-year-old has some work to do on that front.
On the other hand, the day belonged to a Naman and a Singh, but from different teams. Coming in at 80/5 for England U19, Ekansh Singh played the leggie Naman Pushpak and other Indian bowlers with the maturity of a veteran while not being afraid to play his shots as he scored a quickfire ton, at a strike rate of 75. There were contributions from James Minto and Thomas Rew as well, but it was Singh who propelled England Colts to go past the 300 mark.
For India U19, Pushpak picked up four wickets and forced the England batters to go on the backfoot and try to read him from his hand. Aditya Rawat and RS Ambrish also shared a couple of wickets apiece.
Now the onus will be on the likes of Ayush Mhatre, Abhigyan Kundu and Harvansh Pangalia to go big and get as close to England Colts' total as possible, if not take a lead.
