India’s three-day practice match against Essex at the County ground ended in a draw. India in their first innings managed to score 395 with Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya each scoring half-centuries. In response to India's total, Essex scored 359 for eight. Essex rode on Paul Walter's 75 and Michael-Kyle Pepper's 68 to respond positively. While India’s batting did a fine job, bowlers somehow struggled. However, pacers Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma shared seven of the eight wickets to fall.

While Umesh returned with impressive figures of 4/35, Ishant scalped three wickets conceding 59 runs. Apart from Umesh and Ishant, Shardul Thakur was the lone bowler amongst wickets. The pacer managed to pick a wicket as well. Hardik Pandya Completes One Year in Test Cricket, Shares His Feelings in Touching Instagram Post.

Indian bowlers started off on a positive note and inside 17 overs, Umesh and Ishant had removed both the openers. Thakur then removed Tom Westley after the Essex skipper scored 57. Umesh and Ishant then struck again in tandem. However, Essex managed to sneak in a couple of good partnerships to take their score past 300-run mark.  Video: Virat Kohli & Shikhar Dhawan Make Way to the Ground Dancing to the Beats of Dhol at Chelmsford.

The home side eventually declared and gave India another chance to bat. In their second innings, India tweaked with the batting order and along with Shikhar Dhawan sent KL Rahul to open the innings. Dhawan, however, was dismissed for a duck in the second innings as well and got a golden pair. India then lost the wicket of Cheteshwar Pujara as well. When the captains decided to call off the match, Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane were batting on 36 and 19 respectively as India scored 89 for two. India now take on England in the first Test starting from August 01.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 28, 2018 05:39 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).