India A top order in opening day run-fest

India A 473 for 3 (Abhinav 91, Dhawan 179, Rahane 118) v Yorkshire
Scorecard

It was a run-fest on the opening day at Headingley as the India A top order made a perfect start to their tour of England, amassing 473 runs and losing just three wickets. Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane went past three figures, Abhinav Mukund fell nine short of his century and Cheteshwar Pujara remained unbeaten on 55 after 95 overs of toil for the Yorkshire bowlers.

The Indians were the fresher lot in the field compared to their opponents, who were away at Worcester the previous day and as a result, play started an hour later. Abhinav and Dhawan scored at a brisk rate in the opening session, adding 132. Dhawan hit 14 fours before reaching his century, off 133 balls, but Abhinav fell just short of his century. The Tamil Nadu opener was dismissed by Moin Ashraf for 91, hitting 12 fours and a six in his knock.

It took 43 overs for Yorkshire to break the stand, but there was more toil for the bowlers as Rahane joined Dhawan in a stand of 141. Rahane dealt mainly in boundaries, smashing nine boundaries en route to his fifty, and he went on to reach his century off 132 balls. Dhawan looked set to record a double-century, but the Delhi opener fell to Lee Hodgson for 179.

Pujara joined Rahane and added a further 107 in nearly 22 overs to take the score past 400. Tino Best, the West Indian fast bowler, had some success when he had Rahane caught for 118.