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Untitled Document
 Indian bowlers exploit conditions on opening day
18th Jul 2008 23:02 IST
Agencies
India started their tour of Sri Lanka on an impressive note with their bowlers putting up a tidy display to bundle out Sri Lanka Board XI for a modest 224 on a rain-truncated opening day of the three-day warm-up match in Colombo today.
Electing to bat, the home team never really recovered from a shaky start and could have been skittled out for a much lower first innings total had it not been for a resolute 100-run fifth wicket partnership between Thilina Kandamby (84) and Chamara Silva (68).
Captain Anil Kumble (3/30) was the pick of the Indian bowlers while pacer Zaheer Khan (2/35) and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh (2/52) chipped in with two wickets each at the Nondescripts Cricket Club.
The Indians, playing their only warm-up game before the three-match Test series gets underway from July 23, were struggling at 4/1 at close with opener Gautam Gambhir back in the pavilion.
The track at the NCC gave some assistance to the bowlers and the visitors exploited the conditions reasonably well to capture wickets at periodic intervals.
The lanky pacer Ishant Sharma drew first blood for the Indians by getting rid of opener Mahela Udawatte (7) with wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik taking a smart catch.
The other opener Upul Tharanga returned to the pavilion soon after to reduce the hosts to a precarious 20/2 with Zaheer, returning to international cricket after brief injury lay-off, picking up his first scalp.
The home team was left gasping at 82/4 as captain Jehan Mubarak (25) and Chamara Kapudegera (1) fell in quick succession to give the Indians a firm control of the game.
But Kandamby and Chamara Silva stemmed the rot with a crucial partnership as they mixed caution with aggression to bail the team out of a tight spot.
Kandamby slammed 11 boundaries during his 138-ball knock while Silva hit six boundaries during his innings, which came off 108 balls.
After the two batsmen were dismissed, the tailenders caved in quickly and the innings folded up in 71.5 overs.
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