India have now taken a lead of 342 runs at the end of Day 2 of the warm up game against Sri Lanka Board President's XI at the R Premadasa Stadium on Friday.
It was an eventful day indeed in Colombo. The Indians were right on top throughout the day.
After being bolwed out for 351 runs earlier in the day. Indian bowlers, especially Ishant Sharma, rattled the Sri Lanka Board President XI's batsmen when they came to bat.
Sharma picked up 5 wickets from 21 balls, leaving the hosts reeling at 10 for the loss of 5 wickets.
He kind of emulated England's Stuart Broad, who picked 5 wickets in 19 balls against Australia on Thursday. Varun Aaron also came in and bowled at a fiery pace on a green pitch. Aaron picked up two wickets.
The partnership between Sri Lankans Danushka Gunathilaka and Nirsoshan Dickwella showed a lot of promise but Indian spinners did well to pull things back. Eventually, Sri Lanka Board President's XI were bowled out for 121 runs, giving India a lead of 230 runs.
India's captain Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma came out to bat for the second innings. It was evident that the skipper was trying out something different but failed, as Sharma departed cheaply.
Kohli did start off nicely but he too was dismissed for 18 runs. Wriddhiman Saha was sent up the order at No.3 position and he did not trouble the scorer at all. All of a sudden, India were struggling at 28 runs for the loss of three wickets.
It was the KL Rahul-Cheteshwar Pujara partnership yet again that steadied the Indian innings.
At stumps, India were at 112 for the loss of 3 wickets, a lead of 342 runs.
India would look to score some quick runs tomorrow (Saturday) and let their bowlers do the rest of the job.
