Cricket

Sri Lanka Board XI vs India: Day 1

Day One of the three day game between India and Sri Lanka Board XI brought a smile to the faces of the Indian team which is hoping to win a series in Sri Lanka for the first time in 15 years.

In a 12 players per side match, Sri Lanka Board XI won the toss and elected to bat first, but the decision soon reversed as Zaheer Khan found rythm instantly pegging back the top order with two wickets. Ishant Sharma and Munaf Patel also pitched in with a wicket apiece as rain clouds hoevered around all the time, threatening to rain in at any moment.

From 3 for 22, the home side then recovered quite a bit as Kandamby scored 84 fighting runs while being supported by Chamara Silva who scored 64. But once the Indian spinners were on, it became quite difficult for the batsmen. Kumble and Harbhajan picked up 5 wickets between themselves to dismiss the hosts for 224. Kumble picked three while Bhajji scalped 2 wickets.

The day’s work must have been quite pleasing for the visitors but in the last over of the day, they lost Gambhir when he just had 4 balls to contend with. Surely the south paw needs some time in the middle and should pray that India do bat a second time.

Tags: anil kumble, Chamara Silva, gautam gambhir, harbhajan singh, Idea Cup 2008, India, kandamby, munaf patel, shant sharma, Sri Lanka Board XI, Zaheer Khan