India set massive chase for Sri Lanka President’s XI
View(s):The visiting India team set Sri Lanka Board President’s XI a massive run chase in the morning session of play on the final in the three day practice match played at the R. Premadasa Stadium. The host in pursuit of 411 runs for victory went into the lunch break with the score on 14 for 1.
Kaushal Silva was dismissed for a duck in the first innings, but he bounced back in the second essay with a good knock - Pix by Amila Gamage
This was after India resuming on their overnight score of 112 for 3 going in for quick runs made a score of 180. In fact the overnight batsmen Cheteshwar Pujara and Lokesh Rahul retired themselves out making way for the others to do the scoring while top scorers in the first inning Ajinkya Rahane who made a 109 and Shikhar Dhawan did not bat.
The second day’s play belonged to right arm pacie Ishant Sharma who ran through the Sri Lanka Board President’s XI with an impressive five wicket haul to bowl them out for 121 to give a warning prior to the first Test match due to get underway on August 12 at the Galle International Stadium. Sharma ended with impressive figures of 5 for 23 while the right arm spin and pace combination of Varun Aaron and Ravichandran Ashwin shared four wickets between them.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were unable to make any impression being dismissed for low scores. Rohit failed to reach the double figures in both the innings while Kohli was able to make scores of 8 and 18.
However an outright win for the host is nowhere near reality but the four players Lahiru Thirimanne, Kaushal Silva, Kusal Perera and Upul Tharanga included in the Test squad who failed in the first inning should take the opportunity to grab some batting practice for the big game.
Sri Lanka Board President’s XI went into the lunch break on 14 for 1.
India 1st innings 351 (Ajinkya Rahane 109, Shikhar Dhawan 62, Lokesh Rahul 43, Cheteshwar Pujara 42, Ravichandran Ashwin 23: Kasun Rajitha 5 for 68, Jeffrey Vandersay 2 for 76)
Sri Lanka Board President’s XI 1st innings 121 all out (Milinda Siriwardena 32, Niroshan Dickwella 41, Danushka Goonathilake 28: Ishant Sharma 5 for 23, Ravichandran Ashwin 2 for 8, Varun Aaron 2 for 42)
India 2nd innings (112/3 overnight)
Rohit Sharma lbw b Fernando 08
Virat Kohli c Pathirana b Rajitha 18
Wriddhiman Saha lbw b Fernando 01
Cheteshwar Pujara retired out 31
Lokesh Rahul retired out 47
Ravichandran Ashwin b Gamage 00
Harbhajan Singh c Dickwella b Tharaka 04
Amit Mishra lbw b Pathirana 07
Bhuvneshwar Kumar c Rajitha b Siriwardena 37
Varun Aaron b Rajitha 02
Umesh Yadav not out 17
Extras (b1, nb2, w5) 08
Total (all out: 58.4 overs) 180
Fall of wickets: 1-22 (R. Sharma), 2-27 (Saha), 3-28 (Kohli), 4-112 (Pujara), 5-112 (Rahul), 6-112 (Ashwin), 7-121 (Singh), 8-140 (Mishra), 9-143 (Aaron).
Bowling: Vishwa Fernando 5-0-17-2, Lahiru Gamage 11-1-20-1, Kasun Rajitha 12-2-38-2, Nisala Tharaka 6-3-14-1, Sachith Pathirana 16-1-60-1, Shehan Jayasuriya 8-0-25-0, Milinda Siriwardena 0.4-0-5-1.
Sri Lanka 2nd innings
Dhananjaya de Silva c Rahul b Yadav 06
Kaushal Silva not out 08
Lahiru Thirimanne not out 00
Extras 00
Total (1 wicket: 5 overs) 14
Fall of wickets: 1-14
Bowling: Umesh Yadav 3-1-10-1, Varun Aaron 2-0-4-0