India's Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a magnificent unbeaten 179 but the second Test against England remains nicely poised after the opening day in Visakhapatnam.
The opener's sublime knock – that came off 257 balls, containing 17 fours and five sixes – was the lone bright spot India who will be disappointed not have capitalised on winning the toss and batting first on a good pitch.
Rohit Sharma's side, who lost a thrilling first Test by 28 runs in Hyderabad, reached 336-6 stumps, with all of their top order – bar Jaiswal – failing to kick on after making promising starts.
The six men dismissed were all out for between 14 and 34 while Jaiswal shared in three separate partnerships in excess of 50.
“I had in my mind that I had to play session by session and if they are bowling well that I play that spell and that was how I went about it,” said left-hander Jaiswal.
“Initially the wicket was a little damp and there was spin and bounce and the ball was seaming a bit but I was thinking about getting through and then converting the loose ball at the moment.
“The pitch played differently throughout the day, as the ball got older and older there was spin and bounce.
“I would love to double it up and I'll be trying to just keep going and play till the end for my team. I will go and recover properly for tomorrow.”
England, meanwhile, will be delighted with their efforts which saw debutant Shoaib Bashir claim captain Rohit as an impressive first scalp in Test cricket. Bashir and fellow spinner Rehan Ahmed took two wickets each.
The 20-year-old off-spinner – who had only made six first-class appearances going into the game – repaid the faith shown in him by the England selectors as he went on to claim the wicket of Axar Patel and finish with 2-100 in 28 overs.
“That [Sharma wicket] was the highlight – he’s such a good player of spin and for me to get his wicket as my first is very, very awesome,” said Bashir.
“It was a tough pitch to bowl on, it didn’t offer too much, but I thought the way the boys went about it was awesome and for us to pick up six wickets puts us in a good position going into tomorrow.
“It was a tough pitch to bowl on. It didn't offer too much. I thought the way the boys went about it was awesome and for us to pick up six wickets and to pick up that late wicket of KS Bharat was massive.”
India had started the day cautiously, with the hosts reaching 40-0 in the first hour of play before Bashir broke through in the second over after the drinks break. He had Rohit caught out for 14 at leg-slip on a delivery that turned sharply into the right-hander.
James Anderson, who bowled superbly after replacing Mark Wood as England's sole pace-bowler in the attack, had Shubman Gill caught behind for 34 as the 41-year-old veteran moved to 691 Test wickets.
Jaiswal then took on the England spinners to smash Tom Hartley for three successive boundaries and set the pace.
He reached his second Test ton with a six off Hartley and removed his helmet, raised his arms and blew a kiss to the cheering crowd. It was India's first century of the series, with England's Ollie Pope hitting 196 in the opening Test.
Jaiswal kept up the attack and India dominated the final hour of play despite losing Axar Patel (27) and hometown hero KS Bharat (17).
The 22-year-old Jaiswal, playing his sixth Test, surpassed his previous Test best of 171 on debut in the West Indies last year.
Debutant Rajat Patidar made 32 before being bowled by Ahmed as the batsman's forward defensive stroke saw the ball, with backspin, roll on to the stumps.
Hartley, who returned figures of 7-62 in England's win in Hyderabad, had sent back Shreyas Iyer for 27 against the run of play in the second session.
Bashir had Axar caught at backward point for his second wicket, as he bowled disciplined spells to showcase his variety and guile, then Ahmed did the same to KS Bharat to leave England with real hope of limiting India to a manageable score.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
