 Indian batsmen made to struggle on second day
19th Jul 2008 23:05 IST
Agencies
India's famed batsmen were made to struggle on a difficult track as Sri Lanka Board XI left the visitors gasping at 196/8 on a rain-truncated second day of their three-day warm-up match today.
Sachin Tendulkar marked his return to competitive cricket with a gutsy 69 and Dinesh Karthik struck an unbeaten 58, but none of the other batsmen could hang around for long on a pitch which gave some assistance to the bowlers.
The Indians, aiming to get as much batting practice ahead of the Test series which gets underway from July 23, were done in first by the weather and then by some tight and incisive bowling by the hosts.
The entire morning session was washed out due to rain and the visitors found the going tough when play actually resumed in gloomy conditions.
The Indians, replying to Board XI's first innings total of 224, were tottering at 80/5 at one stage before Tendulkar and Karthik pulled the team out of the pits with a determined 92-run partnership.
Tendulkar seemed to be in a belligerent mood despite wickets falling at regular intervals and slammed eight boundaries and a six during his 76-ball knock. Karthik, on the other hand, was far more subdued as he tried to rebuild the innings after the early jolts.
Dammika Prasad was the most successful bowler for the home team scalping three wickets for 30 runs, while pacer Dilhara Fernando claimed two wickets.
Resuming at the overnight score of 4/1, the Indians lost Rahul Dravid (5) early as he was run out while Sourav Ganguly fell soon after with Prasad accounting for his wicket.
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