ENG U-19 vs IND U-19 | Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Kanishk Chauhan star in India’s comprehensive win

‌Brief score: ENG U-19 174/10 (42.2) [Rocky Flintoff 56(90), Isaac Mohammed 42(28); Kanishk Chouhan 3/20(10), RS Ambrish 2/24(6)] lost to IND U-19 178/4 (24) [Vaibhav Suryavanshi 48(19), Abhigyan Kundu 45*(34); AM French 2/46(6)] by six wickets.

The Indian U-19 cricket team started their five-match ODI series against England in style with a dominant six-wicket win over the hosts in the first match at the County Ground in Hove on Friday. A disciplined bowling effort from the visitors led by Kanishk Chouhan saw the England Colts being bowled out for 174 before India made light work of the chase closing off the match with 26 overs to spare.

England had a good start after opting to bat first racing to 62/1 after the first 10 overs. Isaac Mohammed made a quickfire 42 off 28 balls, hitting four sixes and three fours, but his dismissal by leg-spinner Mohamed Enaan in the 12th over turned things around. England slipped from 76/1 to 129/7 in the space of 16 overs as Kanishk ran through the lower middle order before finishing with a miserly spell of 3/20 in 10 overs, including a maiden. Rocky Flintoff stood firm at one end and his fighting half-century helped the home side go past the 150-run mark. He scored three sixes and fours during his 90-ball 56 before being the last batter to be dismissed. Apart from Kanishk, Enaan and the medium-pace duo of RS Ambrish and Henil Patel all ended with two wickets.

Chasing 175, skipper Ayush Mhatre and his younger partner Vaibhav Suryavanshi started positively scoring 38 runs in the first five overs. Suryavanshi then took on medium pacer Jack Home smashing three sixes to plunder 21 runs from his first over. In the next over, the Rajasthan Royals batter continued the surge with a six and four off left-arm seamer James Minto before being dismissed by Ralphie Albert. He departed in the eighth over for a 19-ball 48, a knock which included five maximums and three fours, with the score reading 71. India had a minor blip as they lost Mhatre in the next over before slipping to 123/4 as England tried to claw back into the contest. But a composed unbeaten stand of 55 from Abhigyan Kundu and Rahul Kumar carried the side home with the Colts reaching 178/4 in 24 overs. Abhigyan hit four fours and a six to score 45 off 34 balls while Rahul gave him company with a knock of 17 as they made the target with 26 overs to spare.