Skipper Vijay Zol scored a brilliant, unbeaten century as India amassed 333 for 2 against Sri Lanka by stumps on the opening day of the first Under-19 Youth 'Test' in Dambulla on Tuesday.
Sri Lanka captain Kusal Mendis's decision to field backfired badly as Zol (batting 129) and Sanju Samson (batting 74) added 169 runs in an unbroken third-wicket stand after openers Shubham Khajuria (52) and Akhil Herwardkar (71) put up a solid 79-run opening partnership.
Zol and Herwadkar were involved in a second-wicket stand that was worth 85 runs.
The left-handed Zol continued from where he had left during the recently-concluded tri-series in Australia, hitting 14 fours and a six off 213 deliveries.
IPL star Samson also got his first significant score at this level after a moderate tour Down Under. He had 11 hits to the fence en route his 147-ball essay.
It was Jammu boy Khajuria who started attacking the bowlers from the word go. He smashed ten boundaries in his 61-ball knock but was the only batsman to be dismissed in the first session.
It was left-arm spinner Lakshan Jayasinghe who had him caught by Sadira Samarawickrama.
The only wicket that fell in the second session was that of left-handed Herwadkar, who tried to cut an off-break from Ramesh Mendis only to edge it to Kusal behind the stumps.
Herwadkar faced 125 deliveries and hit nine fours in the
process.
Brief score:
India Under-19 (Ist innings): 333-2 in 90 overs (Vijay Zol batting 129, Sanju Samson batting 74, Akhil Herwadkar 71, Shubham Khajuria 52) vs Sri Lanka.
Image: Vijay Zol
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