Piyush Chawla and supersub Mayank Tehlan rescued India Under-19 from a precarious position and led them to a series-winning victory in the rain-affected fourth one-day cricket match against their Australian counterparts in Dharamshala on Sunday.
The win gave Indians an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-game series with a match to spare.
Chasing 213 for victory, the Indians were in trouble at 59 for four but Chawla and Tehlan put up an unbroken 95-run partnership for the fifth wicket to put the pressure back on the Aussie bowlers.
When the heavens opened, the Indians were 154 for four in 33 overs, considerably ahead of the target of 127 at that stage, resulting in the match going in their favour according to the Duckworth-Lewis calculations.
The top order had again let India U-19 down with the team losing early wickets during the run chase.
The openers, S Anirudh (2) and Ankit Rawat (11) fell cheaply. However, Rohit Sharma played some handsome strokes in his 30 (off 43 balls with three fours), but when he departed caught at mid-on trying to clear the infield, the victory target seemed a long way away.
Chawla, however, showed his intentions hitting the first ball he faced past point for a boundary. In fact, that over from Patrick Darwen went for 12 and the Uttar Pradesh lad repeated the dose to Jack Mc Namara.
When Chawla (49 off 52 balls with five fours and a six) was scoring freely, Tehlan (42 in 61 balls with three fours) was content to give him support. But in the course of time, he also picked up his scoring rate and did not allow the visitors any respite.
