COLOMBO, Aug 7: 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 today.
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 yesterday. The Indian innings lasted 9.1 overs in the morning session with 37 runs added to the total.
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.
Ishant was then on a hat-trick in the very next over, removing Upul Tharanga (0) for another first-ball duck. New batsman Milinda Siriwardana (32 runs, 48 balls, 6 fours) avoided it and the next couple of overs there were no further losses. � PTI
SCORECARD
Indians 1st innings: 351
Sri Lanka Board President�s XI 1st innings: D de Silva b I Sharma 0, J Silva lbw b I Sharma 0, H Thirimanne c Rahul b I Sharma 5, W Tharanga lbw b I Sharma 0, T Siriwardana c Saha b Aaron 32, M Perera b I Sharma 0, D Jayasuriya c Saha b Aaron 7, N Dickwella b Ashwin 41, M Gunathilaka c Yadav b Ashwin 28, N Gamage lbw b Harbhajan Singh 2, C Rajitha not out 0; Extras: (nb 6):6; Total : (all out; 31 overs): 121; Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-1, 3-1, 4-10, 5-10, 6-38, 7-51, 8-114, 9-117, 10-121; Bowling: B Kumar 7-3 -17-0, I Sharma 7-1-23-5, UT Yadav 6-1-24-0, VR Aaron 6-0-42-2, R Ashwin 3-1-8-2, Harbhajan Singh 2-0-7-1.
Indians 2nd innings: R Sharma lbw b Fernando 8, V Kohli c Pathirana b Rajitha 18, W Saha lbw b Fernando 1, C Pujara not out 31, K Rahul not out 47; Extras: (b1, w 5, nb1) : 7; Total (3 wickets; 40 overs) 112; Fall of wickets:1-22, 2-27, 3-28; Bowling: Fernando 5-0-17-2, Gamage 7-0-15-0, Rajitha 7-2-16-1, N Gamage 3-2-7-0, Pathirana 10-1-31-0, D Jayasuriya 8-0-25-0.
