Sharma, Shukla give India under-19 victory

Fine knocks by Rohit Sharma and skipper Ravi Kant Shukla enabled the India under-19 team beat their Australian counterparts by two wickets in the opening one-day encounter of the five-match series between the two countries in Mohali on Monday.

Electing to bat, the Australians scored 214 for six in their allotted 45 overs.

The Indians had a disastrous start, losing three wickets for 49 runs before Sharma (44) and Shukla (62) steadied the innings.

The Indians reached the target in 39.3 overs for loss of eight wickets.

Speaking after the match Shukla appeared dissatisfied with his top order.

"The batsmen were out to poor shots, but our bowlers and the field performance was good," he told reporters after the match.

Shukla, however, said the same team would be retained for the next match on Wednesday.

Former India captain and chairman of the Board's Talent Resources Development Team Dilip Vengsarkar, who along with junior selection committee chairman Praveen Amre, watched the match, was not fully satisfied with the home team's performance.

"They need to improve and there is scope that they can perform much better than this... opportunities like these must be grabbed by youngsters.

"The five one-dayers against Australians will also help the selectors identify the players who can go to the next level," Vengsarkar said after the match.

Australian captain Usman Khwaja said the Australians fell short by 30-odd runs.

"If we had more runs on the board, may be the scene would have been different. The match has given us good experience about the conditions and expect us to come back strongly on Wednesday," he said.

Scorecard

Australia Under-19:
GI Skennar c Shah b Anand Rajan 4
U Khawaja b Mahesh 0
A J Finch c Anand Rajan b Nachim 37
T Stray c Anand Rajan b Nachim 29
M Henriques not out 85
T Cooper c Anirudha b Murtaza 7
B G Gledhill c Murtaza b Nadeem 40
D Warner not out 4
Extras: (lb 2, w 6) 8
Total: (6 wickets, 45 overs) 214

Did not bat: J McNamara, J J Bird, C Thompson.

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-4, 3-72, 4-80, 5-97, 6-210.

Bowling: Anand Rajan 5-1-31-1 (w2), Mahesh 6-1-20-1 (w1), Nachim 9-0-35-2 (w2), Nadeem 9-0-52-1, Murtaza 9-0-26-1, Piyush Chawla 7-0-48-0 (w1).

India Under-19:
A Rawat c Gledhill b Bird 10
S Anirudha c Skennar b Thompson 1
A Murtaza c Finch b Henriques 2
R Sharma c Skennar b Darwen 44
Ravi Kant Shukla c Finch b Darwen 62
A G Pradeep c Warner b Darwen 11
Piyush Chawla c Warner b Khawaja 13
P Shah st Gledhill b McNamara 19
S Nadeem not out 26
V Y Mahesh not out 1.
Extras: (lb 1, w 15, nb 10) 26
Total: (8 wickets, 39.3 overs) 215

Did not bat: Anand Rajan.

Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-16, 3-49, 4-112, 5-143, 6-166, 7-167, 8-211.

Bowling: Henriques 3-0-15-1 (w3, nb2), Thompson 4-0-28-1 (w4, nb2), McNamara 8-1-45-1 (w2), Bird 5.3-0-46-1 (w1, nb5), Darwen 9-1-31-3 (w1), Finch 4-0-19-0 (w1), Khawaja 3-0-11-1 (nb 1), Warner 3-0-19-0.