Late wickets swings the day in India U-19 favour

India under-19 medium pacers' late burst with the new ball in the final session swung the day in favour of the host in the unofficial Test against South Africa.

Divyaansh Saxena plays through the offside during his knock of 122.

India under-19 medium pacers' late burst with the new ball in the final session swung the day in favour of the host in the unofficial Test against South Africa at the KCA-St.Xavier’s College ground here on Thursday.

Anshul Kamboj and Raj Vardhan Hangargekar took three quick wickets including that of captain Mathew Montgomery to reduce South Africa to seven for three. However, Andile Mogakane (16 batting) and Bonga Makhakha (11 batting) survived a tense last hour to add 27 runs for the fourth wicket as South Africa closed the second day at 34 for three. South Africa resumed the second innings, 133 in deficit, after Indian opener Divyaansh Saxena compiled a well grafted century (122) to top-score in host’s first innings total of 330.

Left-arm spinner Bryce Parsons was the standout bowler for the Proteas as he struck to the virtues of good line and length and teased the Indian batsmen to scalp six for 77. Parson’s accurate spell stymied India's progress as the host slid from 200 for three to 283 for eight. It required some enterprising batting from tailender Hangargekar (41) to take the score past 300 runs.

The South African bowlers’ had learnt from their profligacy on Wednesday evening and a disciplined effort from them in the first session dried up the scoring opportunites for the Indian batsmen. There wasn’t any help from the pitch but the bowlers kept things tidy and it nearly brought in the reward before lunch.

Divyaansh on 68 top-edged a sweep from Parson’s but Kgaudise Molife dropped a dolly at fine leg. That was the only blemish in Divyaansh’s innings until he nudged a catch to the wicketkeeper Luke Beaufort off Parson after completing his century. The fourth wicket stand between Divyaansh and captain Suraj Ahuja (57) yeilded 105 runs. Left-arm pacer Marco Jansen and Parson bowled a series of maidens to frustrate the batsmen and Suraj tried to dominate the spinner with a slog sweep and it ended in the hands of Jansen at square leg.

After lunch India lost wickets regularly to Parson as the lower-order batsmen didn’t show the patience to graft and threw away their wickets. However, Hangargekar struck eight fours in his quickfire knock of 41 which came off 26 balls as India reached 330.

The scores:

South Africa (U-19): 197 & 34/3 in 15 overs vs India (U-19) 330 in 92.3 overs (Divyaansh Saxena 122, Suraj Ahuja 57, Raj Vardhan Hangargekar 41, Bryce Parson 6-77).