The Indian team endured a long frustrating day on the field as second division English County side Derbyshire made a mockery of Indian pace attack and pilled 326 runs on the first day of the second warm-up game at the County Ground on Tuesday.
Indian pacers struggled once again and failed to stamp any mark against a team, which was playing with three batsmen that are not in their first team. Opener Ben Slater, Billy Godleman, Wes Durston and Harvey Hosein struck impressive fifties for the home team.
Durston scored a scorching 90-ball 95 and struck 14 four and two sixes, while first-team debutant Hosein displayed a much better performance than his last outing and made an unbeaten half-century. Slater, who ended with a cautious 121-ball 54, is yet to appear for Derbyshire in a first-class match this season.
Just like the first warm-up fixture against Leicestershire, Ishant Sharma again struggled with his line and length and bowled nine no-balls. The lanky pacers got away with few tight ones otherwise his tally could have been much higher.
Ishant, who is expected to lead the Indian attack in absence of Zaheer Khan, was all over the pitch. He does bowl odd unplayable deliveries to keep the batsmen guessing, but bowling short-and-wide remained a problem for the 25-year-old.
However, Indian team has more worries than Ishant's wayward performance, as in-form pacer Mohammad Shami missed the first day because of a strain in left calf. Shami received treatment from the medical staff and according to the team management, it is just a mild strain and the 24-year-old should be available in the second innings.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar was pick of the bowlers and maintained steady line and length, however he was wicket-less in the first day. Pankaj Singh started well and provided an early jolt, when he dismissed Paul Borrington for a duck.
Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja bowled pretty well and got couple of wickets and at one time reduced the home team to 115 for four. All-rounder Stuart Binny maintained steady line and length, while Ishwar Pandey picked one wicket.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who is likely to miss the first Test, also bowled seven overs. Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni used nine bowlers in the innings, including himself and bowled the final over of the day.
This is the final tour match for the Dhoni-led Team India before they face England in the first of the five Test matches at Trent Bridge on July 9.
Where to Watch Live
The second day's action between Derbyshire and India is scheduled for 11:00 am local time (3:30 pm IST, 10:00 am GMT and 6:00 am ET) start. Catch the live scores and ball-by-ball updates HERE, HERE or HERE. The action can also be listened live on BBC HERE, HERE or HERE. Viewers can also live stream the match on Willow TV HERE.
