Chawla ton puts India in command

Captain Piyush Chawla showed his batting skills with a hard-hitting 146 to put India Under-19 in command against Pakistan on the second day of the four-day youth 'Test' in Peshawar on Thursday.

Chawla and overnight double centurion Tanmay Srivastava (220) led India to an imposing total of 611 for nine declared at the Arbab Niazi stadium.

The 17-year old player from Uttar Pradesh then returned to pick a crucial wicket as the Indians reduced the hosts to 109 for six from 38 overs at close.

Chawla, a leg-spinning all-rounder who has played a Test for the Indian seniors earlier this year against England, batted beautifully after the visitors resumed on a solid 393 for four with Srivastava on 213 runs.

Srivastava was out after adding seven runs to his overnight score before his 272-ball innings came to an end when he was caught by Behram Khan off Junaid Khan, a left-arm pacer who took two wickets.

Chawla then took control and faced 172 balls for his 146 runs, hitting 18 fours and six sixers.

Virat Kohli with 83 and Suneet Sharma with 81 were the other main contributors for the Indian total.

For Pakistan, pacer Mohammad Naved returned impressive figures of 5 for 118.

Pakistan lost its openers Shan Masood and Ahmed Shahzad cheaply at the total of 16 but later Moin-ud-Din played well for his 53 runs before being dismissed by Chawla.

Ishant Sharma took 2 for 15 and Chawla, Sumeet Sharma and Shahbaz Nadeem picked up one each.

India won the first 'Test' in Rawalpindi by 271 runs.