Ishant Sharma took 5/23 in a sensational spell of fast bowling to rout the Sri lankan Board President's XI batting line-up as Indians bowled them out for a paltry 121 in their first innings on day two of the three- day warm-up cricket match here on Friday.
The visitors then finished the day at 112/3 in 40 overs at stumps, after their top order collapsed once again. The Indians' overall lead now stands at a healthy 342 runs.
Earlier, Ajinkya Rahane (109*) retired out on his overnight score and allowed the tail-enders to get some batting practice. R Ashwin (23) was the other unbeaten batsman, on 10, and he laboured his way to double that score in the company of Harbhajan Singh (15).
He was bowled by lahiru Gamage (1-65) and then Kasun Rajitha (5-68) returned to remove Amit Mishra for a first-ball duck. He also scalped Ashwin and thus completed his five-wicket haul after finishing with three wickets on Thursday. It was all about Ishant thereafter as he struck quick blows one after another. After an uneventful first over by Bhuvneshwar Kumar (0-17), the Delhi medium-pacer struck with his first ball, trapping Kaushal Silva (0) lBW. Five balls later, he bowled Dhananjay de Silva (0) with the score reading 1/2.
sl names 16-member squad
Sri lanka today named a 16-member team for the upcoming Test series against India with uncapped 23-year-old fast bowler Vishwa Fernando the only fresh face picked by the national selectors. Fast bowler Suranga lakmal, who had a side strain, and batsman Kithuruwan Vithanage were left out of the squad that played against Pakistan last month.
Another fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera has been selected, subject to his recovering fully from a side strain, in the team to be led by Angelo Mathews for the series beginning August 12 at Galle.
The three-match Test series will see the retirement of Sri lankan great Kumar Sangakkara who has already announced that the second match in Colombo from August 20-24 will be his last game.
Brief Scores
India: 351 & 112/3 (Rahul 47 *, Pujara 31* &; Rajitha 1/26) lead Sl Borad President X1: 121 (Siriwardana 32; Sharman 5/23 ) by 342 runs.