Ayush Mhatre's stunning 64-ball hundred fails to get India to victory over England as rain has the final say in 2nd Test

The India U-19 side led by Ayush Mhatre came ridiculously close to registering a famous victory over England in the second unofficial Test, however rain ended up playing spoilsport at Chelmsford and the match finished off as a draw. Having been given a target of 355 to chase, the Men in Blue had a woeful start as opener Vaibhav Suryavanshi got dismissed for a golden duck. 

Mhatre got India's innings forward alongside Vihaan Malhotra, who had scored a brilliant century in the first innings of the match. The former was clearly the aggressor among the two in their partnership of 100 runs which provided the visitors with some much-needed stability. However, Malhotra wasn't able to replicate his heroics from the first inning and got dismissed for 27 runs on the second occasion. But this didn't stop Mhatre from smashing the opposing bowlers for fun.

Mhatre's ton took India quite close to the target

The India captain would soon go on to bring up a tremendous 64-ball hundred. This was the third-fastest Youth Test century and it couldn't have come at a better time for the Men in Blue. Mhatre was eventually dismissed for 126 runs from 80 deliveries, leaving the side on 217/3. His partnership of 117 runs alongside Abhigyan Kundu had left India in the driving seat to chase down the 355-run target.

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However, the visitors would go on to lose their next three wickets for only 46 runs before rain would spoil the party and would see the match end in draw. India finished off the day on 290/6, still 65 runs behind the target. This meant that the two-match series ended on 0-0 as both the games ended up being draws. 

Brief scores: England U19: 309 & 324/5 declared (BJ Dawkins 136, Adam Thomas 91; Aditya Rawat 4/80) drew with India U19: 279 all out & 290/6 in 43 overs (Ayush Mhatre 126, Abhigyan Kundu 65; Ralphie Albert 4/76).

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Notably, India had won the previously contested five-match ODI series against England by 3-2. Suryavanshi was the star performer for the Men in Blue in that series, scoring 355 runs in five matches, including a fantastic knock of 143 in the fourth ODI. The second unofficial Test capped off the India U-19 side's tour of England. It was a rather successful outing for the side, who gave a hard time to the hosts in both the ODI and Test series.