The day one of the practice match between Essex and India has begun. But right at the start of the day, India suffered a couple of sets backs with Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteswar Pujara making way to the pavilion quite early in the day. After winning the toss, Virat Kohli elected to bat at Chelmsford. The opening pair Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan took the field.
But soon the Dhawan was sent packing for a duck by Matt Coles for a zero on the first ball itself. Pujara who touted to be the most trustworthy batsman lasted on the field exactly for 9 minutes. Once again, it was Coles who trapped Pujara on the score of 1 off seven balls. The official handle shared the video of both these batsmen.
📽️ Matt Coles strikes after just 3 balls as Dhawan is caught behind by Foster#ESSvIND pic.twitter.com/SC9RaitUIi
— Essex Cricket (@EssexCricket) July 25, 2018
Here’s the video for Pujara.
📽️ Second wicket of the day for Coles, as Pujara is caught behind by Foster#ESSvIND pic.twitter.com/wkfz3FfxmP
— Essex Cricket (@EssexCricket) July 25, 2018
Murali Vijay got 53 runs off 113 balls, whereas Rahane got out on 17 off 47 deliveries. India captain Virat Kohli made 68 runs off 93 and was sent back to the pavilion by Paul Walter. KL Rahul and Dinesh Karthik who have been in an amazing form of late too got their half-centuries. KL Rahul made 58 from 92 balls; Karthik made 54 off 55 deliveries. With this India reached the total of 261/6. The practice game was supposed to last for four days but due to bad pitch. There were even reports that the guests were not happy with the conditions of the pitch, but Ravi Shastri dismissed the same. "It was decided yesterday (during practice). We had a chat (with Essex authorities) and once they explained how they had sold tickets and everything. We were quite happy to play even a two-day game and use that one extra day for practice here. But they said tickets and all that, so we said okay, 'we will play a three-day game',” said Shastri to the press.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 25, 2018 09:50 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).