England U-19 edge past India by 23 runs in first ODI

India's Under-19 team went down to England by 23 runs in the opening game of the five-match Youth One-day Interntaional (ODI) series at the Wankhede Stadium here on Monday.

Chasing 257, opener Himangshu Rana's (101) brilliant century went in vain as the Indian innings folded in the 43rd over for 233 runs.

England were off to a pathetic start losing three wickets with only 13 runs on the board before opener Harry Brook (51) and wicketkeeper-batsman Ollie Pope (37) stitched a 85-run fourth wicket stand to take the team near the three-figure mark.

India once again managed to pull the visitors back with a couple of wickets to reduce them to 126/6 before left-handed batsman Delray Rawlins (107 not out) led the fightback with captain Matthew Fisher (26) to post a competitive 256/7.

For the hosts, medium pacer Kamlesh Nagarkoti and captain Abhishek Sharma took two wickets apiece while Vivekanand Tiwari, Rahul Chahar and Mayank Rawat scalped one wicket each.

In reply, India were off to a decent start with Rana and Prithvi Shaw (9) adding 32 runs for the opening wicket before one down Shubman Gill (29) added 46 runs with Rana to lay the platform for the chase.

But England came back strong to trigger a middle order collapse that saw Abhishek (4), Salman Khan (8), Mayank (0) to put India in deep trouble.

Stumper Het Patel (20) and Nagarkoti (37) then added some valuable runs with Rana but that was not enough to take India over the line.

Fisher emerged the pick of the bowlers taking four wickets while Henry Brookes, Max Holden and Rawlins chipped in with two wickets each.

Brief Scores:

England U-19: 256/7 (Delray Rawlins 107 not out, Harry Brook 51, Ollie Pope 37, Kamlesh Nagarkoti 2-36) vs India U-19: 233 (Himangshu Rana 101, Kamlesh Nagarkoti 37, Matthew Fisher 4-41)

--IANS

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