England U19 v India U19, Youth Test series: Prithvi, Kamlesh star in whitewash for India Colts

India U19 registered a clean sweep against their counterparts England in a 2-match Youth Test series. Playing the first game at Chesterfield, the Indian Colts routed hosts England by a huge margin of 334 runs. In the second game, which was played at Worcester, India U19 attained a 97-run win to make it 2-0.

Batting unit starts tour on a high

For India, the star of the series was the prodigy from Mumbai: Prithvi Shaw. He amassed 250 runs in four innings at an average of 62.50, including three half centuries. Shaw scored his runs at a fair clip and made sure that the Indian side is off to a good start in all four innings. He started the tour with a run-a-ball 86, which pretty much set the tone for the rest of the series. Manoj Kalra (122), Riyan Parag (68) and Harvik Desai (89) made telling contributions in the middle order to lead India to a big first innings score of 519.

Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi combined to pick 9 wickets between themselves to skittle the English for a paltry 195. India U19 attained a lead of over 300 runs but did not choose to enforce the follow-on. In the second essay, Shaw and Parag recorded their second fifties in the match. Parag’s knock made headlines as he finished unbeaten on 50 off 34 balls, making it the fastest fifty ever recorded in Youth Tests. England were set a daunting target of 498 after India declared after 32 overs of batting, in which they batted with a run rate of 5.41.

Kamlesh picks 10 in the match

In reply, the hosts were again bowled out for a sub-200 total. Skipper Max Holden made 60 out of the total of 163 and the rest just surrendered meekly. Nagarkoti picked his second five-wicket haul in the match, ending with figures of 5/63 to follow up his 5/49 in the first innings. India were very clinical in the series opener and adapted to the conditions better than the hosts.

Neck and neck in second game

The second game was a lot more competitive than the first one. Shaw (51) got them off to another decent start but fell soon after registering his third successive fifty in a row. India slipped to 106 for 7 and were in danger of registering the lowest score of the series until the tail combined to get 185 runs from the final three wickets to lift India’s total to 292 all out. England U19, led by Will Jack’s breezy hundred – 102 off 111 balls – and fine contributions from skipper Holden (71) and George Bartlett (56) fell just 8 runs short of the visitors first innings score.

Shubham Gill scored a counter attacking hundred to lead India’s reply. He took just 111 balls to score 102 runs and was ably supported by Shaw, who missed out on his fourth successive half century by just six runs. Riyan Parag, too, chipped in with his third fifty of the series, making 52. England, chasing 339 to win, scored at a very decent clip but couldn’t sustain the momentum due to the regular fall of wickets. Eventually, they fell short by 97 runs. Barlett scored his second fifty of the game, an electrifying 89-ball 73 which included 7 fours and 2 sixes. For India, Shivam Mavi had a great series picking 10 wickets in 2 games while right-arm medium pacer Kamlesh had 14.

England U19 fared better in the second game but weren’t good enough to sustain the momentum for the entire length of the game. Indian skipper Himanshu Rana, who had a disappointing series with the bat getting just 35 runs in four innings, was pleased with the way his boys responded to the challenge of playing in England.

Brief Scores:

1st Youth Test

India U19 – 519 all out (Manoj Kalra 122, Harvik Desai 89, Josh Tongue 3/69) & 173 for 6 declared (Prithvi Shaw 69, Riyan Parag 50*, Matty Potts 3/20).

England U19 – 195 all out (Will Jacks 46, Kamlesh Nagarkoti 5/49, Shivam Mavi 4/51) & 163 all out (Max Holden 60, Kamlesh Nagarkoti 5/63, Ashok Sandhu 2/14).

2nd youth Test

India U19 – 292 all out (Shivam Mavi 86, Prithvi Shaw 51, Ryan Patel 4/21) & 330 all out (Shubham Gill 102, Riyan Parag 52, Amar Virdi 4/82).

England U19 – 284 all out (Will Jacks 102, Max Holden 71, Kamlesh Nagarkoti 3/40) & 241 all out (George Bartlett 73, Shivam Mavi 3/40, Vivekanand Tiwari 2/21).