Nishan Madushka drives on his way to a fifty
Ravindu Rasantha brought up a solid half-century
Manav Suthar was the best of the Indian bowlers with 2/33
Three-day warm-up fixture at the NCC
The first day of India’s 3-day opening fixture on their short tour of Sri Lanka was not the way they would have wanted it to go when a Sri Lanka Cricket XI piled up 363-8 at the NCC grounds yesterday.
Winning the toss and batting first Sri Lanka Cricket XI got off to a splendid start with Nishan Madushka (66 off 65 balls, 11 fours, 1 six) and Ravindu Rasantha (71 off 143 balls, 6 fours, 1 six) putting on 110.
Following Madushka’s departure through a run out, Pasindu Sooriyabandara helped Rasantha add a further 61 for the second wicket. Sri Lanka Cricket XI progressed to 201-2 before the Indian spinners broke through to take four wickets for 84 in the middle phase of the innings.
But skipper Sonal Dinusha (52 off 72 balls, 5 fours, 1 six) and Ramesh Mendis (32) added 63 for the seventh wicket to take the total beyond the 300-run mark.
What was disappointing from the local team’s point of view was that seven of the batsmen got set but none were able to go and play an innings of substance.
It was a hard toil for the Indian bowlers in hot conditions, but they stuck to their task and did not let the game get away from them. Their spinners were the most successful with Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Manar Suthar capturing two apiece.
This fixture, although it’s a three-day affair, has no first-class status as both teams are playing 15 players each with 11 batting and 11 fielding. This is India’s only warm-up game before the 2-Test series starts in Galle on 15 February. The match continues on its second day today. [ST]
Scores:
Sri Lanka Cricket XI 363-8 at close (Nishan Madushka 66, Ravindu Rasantha 71, Pasindu Sooriyabandara 35, Pavan Rathnayake 39, Ahan Wickramasinghe 31, Sonal Dinusha 52, Ramesh Mendis 32, Ravindra Jadeja 2/64, Kuldeep Yadav 2/76, Manav Suthar 2/33) vs India