Yuvraj denied as Dravid seals it with a six

India A 286 for 4 (Jadhav 79, Mongia 51, Kaif 49*, Dravid 45*) beat India 280 for 9 (Yuvraj 100*, Rao 55, Mongia 4-48) by 6 wickets
Scorecard

India A defeated India Seniors by six wickets in a thriller under lights at the Wankhede Stadium, but the result was secondary, for this was the first match of a series whose purpose is to bring India's best together to provide a glimpse of the future. While the eventual result was given form by the old hands of Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif, the new boys - Satyajit Parab, Dheeraj Jadhav and Venugopal Rao - gave their sides impetus with a calm that bodes well for the coming years.

Dravid and Kaif came together with a mounting run-rate and four men gone. Not long ago, Kaif had admitted that he enjoyed batting with Dravid, and the understanding between them as they scampered between the wickets showed why. Kaif cracked 49 off only 32 balls and Dravid hit 45 off 44, sealing the match in the final over with a towering straight six. It was rivetting stuff on a pitch which assisted everyone.

But the base from which the two launched was constructed by Parab and Jadhav, who put on 70 in 13.5 overs. With Lakshmipathy Balaji returning from injury and Gagandeep Singh striving for pace, the bowlers could not find the required length to trouble the openers consistently. Hence the score rattled along until the more aggressive Parab missed a sweep off Ramesh Pawar and was adjudged leg-before. Then Jadhav was joined by Mongia, who appeared so composed and displayed such little excitement, that applause for his fifty was greeted with three waves of the hand. His first attempt at adventure - a foray down the track right after his fifty - ended badly as the shot failed to clear the fence. That provided Anil Kumble with his first wicket of the day, and he was to claim one more later, but the moments in between, when Jadhav and Mongia squirted boundaries, would not have been treasured.

Jadhav, a consistent performer at first-class level, made a composed 79, and played a vital hand in stands with Parab, Mongia and Dravid. His running was quick and his placement was spot-on. He fell in an effort to score quick runs, sweeping Pawar to Shikhar Dhawan at square leg (196 for 3).

The Seniors owed much to Yuvraj and Rao, who came together after Zaheer Khan had reduced them to 52 for 3. The two steadied the nerves with their 116-run stand for the fourth wicket and helped the team to a commanding 280 for 9. Until then, the going had not been good, for the familiar failings were on show: swishes outside the off stump by Sourav Ganguly, and the sight of a fast bowler causing havoc on a green-tinged pitch.

Zaheer glided in with the fluidity and economy of movement of his pre-injury days. Deliveries lifted past faces taken aback with the pace and bounce - in MS Dhoni's case, between a loose bat and static feet with the second ball of the day. Ganguly edged to first slip after two pokes, and Shikhar Dhawan, who had played well for 23, walked across his stumps and nicked one to the wicketkeeper, Dinesh Karthik.

It was then that Yuvraj and Rao, a tiny man possessing a savage cut and a demoralising pull stroke, set about rebuilding and imposing. They were helped by Ajit Agarkar's inaccuracy - either too short or too wide, or both - and took regular boundaries off him. He was removed and replaced by Rudra Pratap Singh, a left-armer bearing more than a passing resemblance to Ashish Nehra. He troubled Yuvraj with deliveries that reared up and had him squaring up uncomfortably. Yuvraj, otherwise in imperious touch, decided to take charge after evading one particularly prickly delivery and lofted Singh to the cover fence and pulled him to midwicket. Singh, having bowled five overs, was taken off.

Yuvraj's approach to Murali Karthik and Yusuf Pathan - Irfan's older brother - was just as destructive. He swatted them between fielders to midwicket, and pulled to square-leg over, around, between fielders. His and Agarkar's day was summed up in one ball on the bowler's return to the attack - a long-hop which was brutally hammered over mid-off's head to the fence. His hundred was his second within a week. The last one had helped North Zone clinch the Deodhar Trophy, but this one could not win it. The help he had from Rao, who scored 55, was instrumental in the large total, but the bowlers were lacking. What made the deficiencies even more glaring is that, inexplicably, Irfan Pathan was rested from the side.