Pujara slams double ton

Opener Chiteswar Pujara scored a masterly double century before the Indian spinners put England on the mat on the second day of the third and final under-19 cricket Test at the Keenan stadium in Jamshwedpur on Thursday.

Riding on Pujara's 211, the hosts declared at 472 for four and then reduced England to 189 for 4 at stumps, with spinner Piyush Chawla claiming two wickets.

At close, Ben Harmison (40) and Steven Mullaney (4) were unbeaten in the middle as England were still 283 runs adrift of the hosts' first innings total.

The England reply started on the right note with openers Michael O'Shea (46; 49b, 72m, 8x4) and Joseph Denly (81; 129b, 159m, 9x4, 1x6) negotiating the Indian new ball bowlers with ease to stitch together an 81-run stand before O'Shea mistimed a delivery off off-spinner Piyush Chawla and was caught behind by wicketkeeper R Keni.

Skipper Steven Davies (4), who came in at number 3, was soon run-out,  but Harmission played cautiously to add 74 runs for the third wicket with Denly, before Chawla struck again to catch the England opener on his follow-through.

A little later, Moeen Ali (3) misjudged a delivery from left-arm spinner S Nadeem and was adjudged leg before.

Earlier, resuming at 283 for 2, the Indian colts consolidated their position further as the overnight unbeaten pair of debutant Pujara (352b, 485m, 26x4) and Manoj Tiwari (109; 151b, 221m, 12x4, 2x6) stretched their third wicket stand to a whopping 217 before being separated.

Scorecard

India Under-19 (1st innings):
C Pujara c M Lawson (sub) b D Griffiths 211
P Aziz c D Griffiths b J Denly 58
A Bilakia lbw D Griffiths 22
M Tiwari b M Ali 109
P Chawla not out 25
P Nayak not out 20
Extras: (lb-4, nb-22, wb-1) 27

Total: (for 4 wkts decl. in 124 overs) 472

Fall of wickets: 1-135, 2-196, 3-413, 4-426

Bowling: D Griffiths: 21-4-71-2, Andrew Miller 19-5-48-0, Adam Harrison 22-7-44-0, Moeen Ali 7-0-52-1, M Stokes 13-2-55-0, Ben Harmison, 14-1-48-0, Steven Mullaney 8-0-42-0, Joseph Denly 19-3-101-1, Steven Davies 1-0-7-0.

England Under-19 (1st innings):
Michael O'shea c R Keni b P Chawla 46
Joseph Denly c and b P Chawla 81
Steven Davies run out 4
Ben Harmison batting 40
Moeen Ali lbw S Nadeem 3
Steven Mullaney batting 4

Extras: (b-3, lb-1, nb-2, p-5) 11

Total: (for four wickets in 54 overs) 189

Fall of wickets: 1-81, 2-99, 3-173, 4-182.

Bowling: Yo Mahesh 8-1-42-0, Harsh Gautam 4-3-5-0, S Nadeem 19-4-75-1, P Chawla 17-2-40-2, M Tiwari 5-1-14-0, Ambatti Rayudu 1-0-4-0.