Oneis not sure whether Ishant Sharma took inspiration from Stuart Broad's effort at Trent Bridge before stepping on to the field on day two of the practice game against Sri Lanka Board Presidents XI on Friday. But, he certainly bowled with similar fire to the England pacer, and ripped through the hosts in no time. Having send down only seven overs, he finished with figures of 5 for 23. Varun Aaron and Ravichandran Ashwin also chipped in with two wickets while Harbhajan Singh claimed one. However, it wasn't all hunky-dory for the visitors as their batting faltered again.
The story of the day was definitely the success of Ishant though. He hasn't been impactful fell ever since that Lord's Test against England. He got ruled out after that match, and hasn't been the same bowler since. Although it was just a practice game, Ishant and team India would be happy with the way things turned out for India with the ball. Impressively, Ishant got most of the big wickets. Openers Dhan de Silva and Kaushal Silva both were sent back for ducks. Ishant then added the scalps of the experienced skipper Lahiru Thirimanne and Upul Tharanga. Both were in desperate need of runs, but Ishant proved to be their undoing.
Ashwin also had a very good outing. He bowled only three overs but finished with figures of two for 8. The offie dismissed Dickwella and Gunathilaka cheaply. Although Aaron claimed two wickets, he was expensive, giving away 42 runs in his six overs. India needs him to be more economical without giving up his attacking streak. He needs to strike a balance. Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar went wicketless, which would have disappointed them, but they were economical in their respective spells. India needed only 31 overs to roll over the opponents, and while that translates into a dominant performance, India would ideally have wanted more practice overs.
When India had a chance to bat a second time in the match, they would have hoped for skipper Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to do well. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be as both failed for the second time in the match. In fact, they opened the batting to get some runs under the belt. But, while Rohit was dismissed for 8, Kohli managed 18. Wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha was promoted upto number three, but he was a failure as well, managing only 1. First-innings heroes Lokesh Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara then featured in the rescue act for India. They finished the day on 112 for 3 with Rahul unbeaten on 47 and Pujara batting on 31.
-- By A Cricket Correspondent
