After a prolonged scoring lull during the five-match Youth ODI series against England U19, India U19 captain Ayush Mhatre was in his element during the subsequent Test matches, ending the series with a rapid century.
After being set a 355-run target mid-way through the final day at Chelmsford by England U19, the Indian colts went all out for the chase despite losing star batter Vaibhav Suryavanshi for a golden duck off the first ball of the innings. The 17-year-old Mhatre soon took centre stage as he whipped up a cracking century to hand a huge scare to Thomas Rew’s English side.
Mhatre breaks multiple records
Mhatre reached his century in only 64 balls, making it the third-fastest Youth Test hundred in all recorded history. Only Moeen Ali (56 balls) and Suryavanshi (58) have recorded quicker Youth Test hundreds. Mhatre finished on 126 off 80 balls after an innings studded with 13 fours and six sixes. The Chennai Super Kings revelation was also in prime touch in the first innings, aggregating 80 in only 90 deliveries.
Mhatre thereby became only the second batter after New Zealand legend Brendon McCullum to record more than 200 runs in a Youth Test with a strike-rate above 100. The young Mumbaikar went even further up, with his whopping 121.17 strike rate ranking even higher than McCullum’s 108.41 in a Youth Test against South Africa in 2001. The New Zealand U19 skipper then, McCullum scored 186 runs from 172 balls (SR: 108.13) in the first innings before adding an unbeaten 46 not out from 42 balls (SR 109.52) in the second.
With nine maximums, Mhatre also broke the Indian Youth Test record held by Manoj Tiwary for most sixes in a match.
Mhatre had also cracked a century in the first Youth Test in Beckenham last week as both games eventually ended in a draw.
India had, however, come close to pulling off a stunning heist on Wednesday as they racked up 290/6 in only 43 overs before bad light deprived them of a chance to reel in the remaining 65 runs. Besides Mhatre, wicket-keeper Abhigyan Kundu was also in blistering nick as he made a quickfire 65 of only 46 balls.
WATCH HIGHLIGHTS OF IND U19 vs ENG U19 DAY 4:
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