Sivaramakrishnan stars in India Colts’ win

Sivaramakrishnan stars in India Colts’ win
KUMAR SHYAM

MUMBAI, JANUARY 11: Five minutes. That was all left between a draw and defeat for England colts who appeared to be steering clear of trouble. The hosts, however, struck in the nick of time to change the script, what in the end was memorable.

Left arm offspinner Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan emerged the hero as he ran through the opponents in the cruical last session of the Under-19 Test match at the Wankhede Stadium here on Friday returning career-best figures of 34.3-20-38-8. The Tamil Nadu spinners heroics gave India colts a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series.

In the morning, the England openers from Durham, Gary Pratt and Nicky Peng looked as solid as ever and were not bothered much even by the spinners. Vidyut did manage to break the opening partnership by dismissing Peng (28) but skipper Ian Bell and Pratt again built up a solid wall of 100 runs. The success of the opening three batsmen has been the only silver lining for the visitors so far.With England doing well in the first session and without losing another wicket more than hour into the second session, the match looked set to end in a draw. Bell, however, suffered a concentration lapse as he went leg before to Dharmichand. That breakthrough was enough as Vidyut came firing on all cylinders to run through the entire batting order except for the wicket of Ian Pattison which was also claimed by Dharmichand.

Just during a drinks break, England coach Tim Boon was seen signalling the players to bend down and get the ball on the middle of the bat. But Bell did not pay heed and neither did Pratt. The next over by Dharmichand, Bell fell leg before trying to work the ball on the on side. Pratt followed soon, his forward push lapped up by Gautam Gambhir off Vidyut’s bowling.

England wicketkeeper Mark Wallace was the only one who stood doggedly at the wicket even as wickets fell in a heap from the other end. And when the last wicket fell, he was left stranded on five runs having faced 91 balls in his nearly two hour stay at the wicket. When last man Monty Panesar came in to bat, England had to fight for just 12 minutes. Wallace faced one over of Dharmichand with all players breathing down his neck but could not manage the single off the last ball. Vidyut came and attacked Panesar on his leg stump finally yielding success on the third delivery. Vidyut returned with an astounding second spell figures of 18.3-15-6-7.

Scoreboard

India 1st Innings: 257
England 1st Innings: 285

India 2nd Innings: 378
England 2nd Innings: (Overnight 24 for no loss) G Pratt c Gambhir b Shiva 66, N Peng c Ganda b Vidyut 28, I Bell lbw B Dharmichand 48 K Ali c Ratra b Vidyut 2, I Pattison c Mane b Dharmichand 3, M Wallace not out 5, R Ferley c Ratra b Vidyut 0, K Hogg lbw b Vidyut 0, J Bishop c Khadkikar b Vidyut 0, A McGarry c Gambhir b Vidyut 0, M Panesar lbw b Vidyut 0
Extras: (1 b, 7 lb, 9 nb, 8 w) 25
Total: (all out in 98.3 overs ) 183
Fall of wkts: -1-60, 2-160, 3-166, 4-169, 5-171, 6-172, 7-180, 8-180, 9-183

Bowling: Shiva 34.3-20-38-8; Agarwal 6-0-34-0; Trivedi 14-2-37-0; Dharmichand 29-15-46-2; Khadkikar 12-8-10-0; Rao 2-0-9-0; Ganda 1-0-1-0.