The Hindu : Sport : India begins well

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India begins well

Kumble leads fine show by bowlers

— Photo: AP

GOOD SHOW: Thilina Kandamby, who top-scored for Sri Lanka Board XI, gets one past Gautam Gambhir.

Colombo: India started its tour of Sri Lanka on an impressive note with the bowlers putting up a tidy display to bundle out Sri Lanka Board XI for a modest 224 on a rain-truncated opening day of the three-day warm-up match here on Friday.

Electing to bat, the home team never really recovered from a shaky start and could have been skittled out for a much lower first innings total had it not been for a resolute 100-run fifth-wicket partnership between Thilina Kandamby (84) and Chamara Silva (68).

Captain Anil Kumble (three for 30) was the pick of the Indian bowlers, while paceman Zaheer Khan (two for 35) and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh (two for 52) chipped in with two wickets each at the Nondescripts Cricket Club.

The Indians, playing their only warm-up game before the three-match Test series gets underway on July 23, was struggling at four for one at close with opener Gautam Gambhir back in the pavilion.

The track at the NCC gave some assistance to the bowlers and the visitors exploited the conditions reasonably well to capture wickets at periodic intervals. The lanky paceman Ishant Sharma drew first blood for the Indians by getting rid of opener Mahela Udawatte (7) with wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik taking a smart catch.

The other opener Upul Tharanga returned to the pavilion soon after to reduce the host to a precarious 20 for two with Zaheer, returning to international cricket after brief injury lay-off, picking up his first scalp. At the fag end of the first day, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir took the field with the latter surviving an lbw decision and then skying a delivery off Dilhara Fernando over the third man for a four.

The southpaw, however, did not get past the gully two balls later as he was lapped up smartly by Board XI skipper Jehan Mubarak for 4. Sehwag remained not out without scoring as he did not face any delivery. Dravid, who was padded up, could not take the field after Gambhir’s dismissal as the umpires called off play due to bad light.

As expected, India fielded the seniors ahead of the Test match as many of them have not played for a while since they were not part of the Asia Cup. — PTI

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