Young opener Haseeb Hameed celebrated his Test recall with a gritty hundred even as Umesh Yadav bowled a few incisive spells and was largely responsible in India bowling Select County XI out for 220 on the second day of the warm-up First-Class game.
Coming back into the England squad after nearly five years, right-handed opener Hameed lived up to his reputation of being called ‘Baby Boycs’ for his dogged defensive game like former great Geoffrey Boycott with knock of 112 off 246 balls. His innings had 13 boundaries.
For India, Umesh was the stand-out bowler as he bowled in short spells and worked up a fair bit of pace with figures of 3/22 in 15 overs.
Mohamed Siraj (2/32 in 13 overs) certainly bowled the best delivery of the day, hurrying compatriot Washington Sundar (1), representing county side.
Umesh still might not make it to the playing XI in Nottingham but his performance will certainly keep the team management interested.
Jasprit Bumrah (1/29 in 15 overs) didn’t give away loose deliveries but save the wicket of Rob Yates, where the left-hander went for a non-existent cut-shot to a delivery reared up, he hardly troubled Hameed, who defended him comfortably most times.
Hameed looked the best against Ravindra Jadeja (15-3-55-1), who was punished for a few runs. His innings ended with an edge to KL Rahul off Shardul who had 1/31 in 14 overs.