Chelmsford [UK], July 24 : After a disappointing ODI leg of the under-19 tour to England, India under-19 skipper Ayush Mhatre concluded a fantastic red-ball part of the tour with a quickfire 64-ball century at Chelmsford.
On Wednesday, Mhatre slammed 126 in 80 balls, consisting of 13 fours and six sixes, scoring at a strike rate of over 157. He was helping India try chasing down 355 runs, but rain denied them a win as they had to settle for a draw at a score of 290/6, with wicketkeeper-batter Abhigyan Kundu (65 in 46 balls, with four boundaries and four sixes) scoring a quickfire fifty as well.
This is the third-fastest U19 Test ton, with those by Vaibhav Suryavanshi (58 balls) and England legend Moeen Ali (56 balls) being above it.
India U19 elected to field first, with a century from Ekansh Singh (117 in 155 balls, with 14 fours and three sixes) and a fifty from skipper Thomas Rew (59 in 79 balls, with eight fours and a six), taking England U19 to 309. Naman Pushpak (4/76) picked up a four-fer.
India fell 30 runs short of this total, bundled out for 279 runs in their first innings, with Mhatre slamming 80 in 90 balls, with 14 fours and a six. Vihaan Malhotra also scored a quickfire 120 in 123 balls, with 19 fours and three sixes. Ralphie Albert (6/53) demolished the batting with a six-wicket haul.
BJ Dawkins (136 in 184 balls, with 11 fours and four sixes) and Adam Thomas (91 in 132 balls, with eight fours) laid the foundation for England's 324/5 declared in the second innings, with India given 355 to chase.
After just 28 runs in five innings with a best score of 21 in five ODIs before this Test series, Mhatre bounced back big time with the bat, topping the red-ball charts with 340 runs in four innings at an average of 85.00 and a strike rate of over 103, with two centuries and a fifty. Previously in the first Test, he had made 102 and 32, but those matches also ended in a draw.
Even though Mhatre did not click with the bat during the ODI series, his captaincy skills came in handy as he led India to a 3-2 series win in a tightly-contested five-match affair.
It has been a fine few months for Mhatre. Coming in as a replacement for an injured skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mhatre's self-belief, youthful exuberance and hitting infused a new life in Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batting group, struggling with form, scoring rates and ageism. In seven matches, he made 240 runs at an average of 34.28 at a strike rate of 188.97, with his solitary fifty being 94 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). Despite coming in halfway through the season, he was the team's third-highest run-getter, with Ravindra Jadeja (301 runs in 14 matches with two fifties) and Shivam Dube (357 runs in 14 matches with a fifty) being the top two. He got to share the locker room with Indian legends MS Dhoni and Ravichandran Ashwin.
Ahead of this series, he also met Indian ODI skipper Rohit Sharma and was gifted a signed bat by him.
In nine first-class matches, he has made 504 runs at an average of 31.50, with two centuries and a fifty, with a best score of 176. With seven List-A matches, he has shone in this format with 458 runs at an average of 65.42, a strike rate of 135.50, with two centuries and a fifty. The IPL debut with CSK also marked his debut in professional T20 cricket.