The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Dominant display by Indian boys

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Saturday, Jan 22, 2005

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Dominant display by Indian boys

By Our Sports Reporter

BANGALORE, JAN. 21. Robin Uthappa flexed his arms and slammed four boundaries in the day's opening over while seamer Adam Harrison rued his false start here at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. The day's first over heralded a steady flow of runs that helped Indian under-19, opting to bat, post 311 for six against England under-19 in the first Test that commenced here on Friday.

Openers Robin (59) and Shikar Dhawan (69) along with skipper A.T. Rayudu (68) flourished though the trio was also guilty of frittering away good starts.

Robin employed a bouquet of shots all around the park ranging from the cut to the flick down fine leg but the best was a straight driven four that raced past while off-spinner Mitchell Stokes was still in the throes of his follow-through. The shot helped Robin notch his fifty and immediately he enjoyed a reprieve as Lawson dropped him at mid-on while Stokes fumed. However Robin failed to build on and succumbed as he checked his drive and watched seamer Andrew Miller dive and pluck the ball inches off the turf with his left hand.

Robin's exit after a 95-run partnership with Dhawan however did not stifle the flow of runs. Southpaw Dhawan now donned the aggressor's mantle and his cover drives that drove the seamers to distraction were a treat to watch. Dhawan also hinted at his power with a disdainfull pull off Ben Harmison. Dhawan too fell while failing to restrain his aggression and was stranded after a wild heave against leg-spinner Mark Lawson connected air leaving England captain and wicket keeper Steven Davies with enough time to whip the bails off.

The scores:

India Under-19 — Ist innings: Robin Uthappa c & b Andrew Miller 59, Shikar Dhawan st Steven Davies b Lawson 69, Fayaz Fazal (run out) 10, A.T. Rayudu c A. Miller b Mitchell Stokes 68, Mayank Tehlan lbw Thomas Smith 22, Manoj Tiwari c Davies b Miller 42, Pinal Shah (batting) 17, Harvinder Singh (batting) 14. Extras: 10 (nb-9, w-1). Total: 311 (for six in 93 overs).

Fall of wickets: 1-95, 2-123, 3-164, 4-194, 5-259, 6-283.

England Under-19 bowling: Adam Harrison 10-0-59-0 (nb-3), Thomas Smith 17-7-32-1, Andrew Miller 15-3-56-2, Mitchell Stokes 19-5-68-1, Ben Harmison 9-0-26-0 (nb-5), Mark Lawson 17-1-56-1 (w-1), Moeen Ali 6-1-14-0 (nb-1).

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