Cricket -> Cricket News -> Report

Indian colts seek to wrap up series

Jan 19, 2001, 13:05 Hrs (IST)

Chennai: As evidenced in their match against South Zone under-19, spin will continue to be the nemesis of the England colts, who will be under pressure as they go into the second of the three Test matches, at the M A Chidambaram Stadium from Saturday.

The Indian colts (under-19) would be looking to wrap up the series spearheaded once again by left-arm spinner Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan, the architect of the win in the first Test, bowling on home turf.

But the England under-19 boys might be hard pressed to wipe out the defeat at Mumbai a week ago and square the series before going to Hyderabad for the final Test.

The England squad is confident of putting up a good show in the second Test. "We batted badly against spin on the final day of the first Test. Since then we have been improving," captain Ian Bell said.

The English lads sweated it out at the nets at MRF Pace Foundation and the Indian squad under coach Roger Binny, at the Chidambaram stadium on Friday morning.

Expressing confidence that India would fare well again, Binny said, "We are confident of doing well. We batted well and bowled well in the first Test." Indicating that spin might continue to do the trick for India, he said apart from Vidyut the team had Dharmichand and Khadikikar, both off spinners.

If the English boys showed the right application against spin, which they did to an extent in the second innings of their match against South Zone under -19, a keen battle would ensue on the historic Chepauk turf where spin has been the nemesis of many a Test sides till now.

According to England coach, his boys were learning from the mistakes of the poor against Rest of India, first Test and the match against South Zone under-19 teams.

However, the humid weather in Chennai has been bothering them to an extent, as Ian Bell said during the match against the South Zone team.

The teams (from): England: Ian Bell (captain), Kadeer Ali, Justin Bishop, Robert Ferley, Kyle Hogg, Andrew McGarry, Nadeem Malik, Gordon Mjuchall, Monty Panesar, Ian Pattison, Nicky Pang, Gary Pratt, John Sadier, Chris Tremlett and Mark Wallace.

India: Ajay Ratra (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Vinayak Mane, Ali Ashan Ganda, Kashinath Khadkikar, Gnaneswara Rao, Parthiv Patel, Mulewa Dharmichand, Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan, Sidddharth Trivedi, Nitin Agarwal and Rayudu.

Umpires: G A Pratap Kumar and C R Vijayaraghavan.

UNI