Lokeshwar hangs on with tail as India salvage draw

India Under-19s 431 for 8 dec (Ferrario 117, Goswami 66) and 189 for 8 (Lokeshwar 92*, Brookes 3-56) drew with England Under-19s 501 for 5 dec (Bartlett 179, Holden 170) and 167 (Bartlett 68, Joseph 6-62)
Scorecard

An unbeaten 92 from wicketkeeper-batsman Suresh Lokeshwar helped India hang on to a draw against England in the first Youth Test of the two-match series.

India were set 238 to win on the final day, and found themselves four down at the start of the sixth over. Subsequently, they were reduced to 61 for 6. Seamers Henry Brookes (3-56) and Aaron Beard (2-24) took the first five of those, before Arthur Godsal removed first-innings centurion Daryl Ferrario for 37. This left Lokeshwar about 34 overs to survive in the lower order's company. He did so with a partnership of 39 for the seventh wicket with Sijomon Joseph that took 13.1 overs, followed by more attacking stands of 61 at 4.11 with Kanishk Seth and an unbroken 28 at 4.54 with Vineet Panwar. Lokeshwar hit 14 fours during his knock and struck at 73.60, but India's early breakthroughs meant 189 for 8 was as far as they could get in the chase.

The chase itself was set up with a six-wicket haul by offspinner Joseph, who inflicted a collapse on England that saw them fall from 151 for 4 to 167 all out on the final day. Right-handed batsman George Bartlett didn't get to bat with Max Holden in the second innings, with whom he had put on a record 321 runs in the first innings, but was involved in England's biggest partnership in the second innings too, putting on 73 for the fifth wicket with Ollie Pope (26) after the visitors were reduced to 78 for 4. He fell to Joseph for 68 and Pope followed shortly after, falling to Ferrario (2-17) and opening up an England collapse that spanned 11 overs.

The second innings for both teams were in stark contrast to the first, where runs were more easily had. England skipper Holden had won the toss, chosen to bat, and gone on to score 170 after his record partnership for the second wicket ended with Bartlett's stumping off Joseph for 179. Allrounder Delray Rawlins then scored an unbeaten 70 off 94 balls to lift England to 501 for 5. In response, India declared on 431 for 8, with sixties from Abhishek Goswami (66), Saurabh Singh (62) and Joseph (62*) complementing Ferrario's 117.