Sri Lanka vs India 2017: Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja star against SLBP XI in warm-up match
India are off to a great start in their warm-up match against Sri Lanka Board President's XI (SLBP XI) as the bowlers, led by Kuldeep Yadav, put on a spirited fightback on day one of the two-day game at Colombo.
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At the end of day one, India are placed in a very good position with the scorecard reading 135/3, trailing SLBP XI by 52 runs.
After losing Abhinav Mukund in the very first over for a first ball duck, KL Rahul got some much-needed batting practice as he scored a fluent fifty before getting out for 54. Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane remained unbeaten on 34 and 30 respectively when the day came to an end.
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Earlier in the day, the Indian spinners put on a master-class after the opposition chose to bat first. Pacer Mohammad Shami struck early as he dismissed Kaushal Silva for just 4 before Dhanushka Gunathilka and Lahiru Thirimanne frustrated the Indians by batting through the first session. They scored their individual fifties and put on a 130-run stand for the second wicket.
The skipper Virat Kohli introduced Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav into the attack. Jadeja struck thrice in two overs to remove Thirimanne, Dhananjaya de Silva and Ashan Priyanjan. In between both the overs, he also effected the run out of Gunathilaka to apply the brakes on SLBP XI's run flow.
Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, who had a great series against West Indies, took over from Jadeja as he ran through the lower order to restrict them for just 187. From 139/2 in 38 overs to 187 all out in 56 overs, the hosts lost their last 9 wickets for just 48 runs. Gunathilaka top-scored with 74 while Thirimanne scored a steady 59 for SLBP XI.
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Kuldeep was the pick of the Indian bowlers as he picked up 4/14 in his seven overs while Jadeja and Shami scalped three and two wickets respectively. R Ashwin, India's go-to bowler in Tests, remained wicketless in his 10 overs conceding 34 runs.
Brief scores: India 135/3 (KL Rahul 54, Virat Kohli 34*, Vishwa Fernando 2/21) trail SLBP XI 187 (Danushka Gunathilaka 74, Kuldeep Yadav 4/14, Ravindra Jadeja 3/31) by 52 runs.