Captain Anil Kumble picked up three wickets while Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan claimed two each as India bowled out a Sri Lanka Board XI for 224 on the first day of their three-day warm-up match in Colombo. Sri Lanka Board XI opted to bat first but Zaheer, back in the team after missing the recent triangular series in Dhaka and the Asia Cup in Pakistan with an ankle injury, produced a couple of blows that left the hosts reeling at 22 for three.
Thilina Kandamby (84) and Chamara Silva (68) then rallied for the hosts and managed to put on 100 runs in a fifth-wicket stand as the Indian bowlers were made to sweat. The partnership added respectability to the score, but tourists' attack eventually prevailed. India came into the match with three months of Twenty20 and one-day cricket behind them and it would be their only opportunity to prepare for the three-Test series against Sri Lanka, the first of which starts in Colombo on July 23.
Kumble had backed his bowlers to take control of the game and he will have been especially satisfied with the economic efforts of Zaheer. His 12 overs yielded just 35 runs and he dealt Chamara Kapugedera's Test chances a blow when he snared him for just one run. Ishant Sharma conceded 36 runs in his 11 overs, but he had the wicket of opener Mahela Udawatte for seven, while India's third seamer Munaf Patel (one for 29) also got in the act. Harbhajan was another bowler proving to be a handful, while Kumble himself produced the best figures of the day with three for 30.
Dinesh Karthik, who came into the India team after Mahendra Singh Dhoni opted out of the tour due to fatigue, was tidy behind the stumps taking three catches. The only blemish for the Indians was the early dismissal of opener Gautam Gambhir (four) in their reply. Having got back into the Test team at the expense of regular opener Wasim Jaffer, Gambhir blew his first opportunity but is still likely to retain his place in the side for the first Test.
India were four for one at stumps.
Thilina Kandamby (84) and Chamara Silva (68) then rallied for the hosts and managed to put on 100 runs in a fifth-wicket stand as the Indian bowlers were made to sweat. The partnership added respectability to the score, but tourists' attack eventually prevailed. India came into the match with three months of Twenty20 and one-day cricket behind them and it would be their only opportunity to prepare for the three-Test series against Sri Lanka, the first of which starts in Colombo on July 23.
Kumble had backed his bowlers to take control of the game and he will have been especially satisfied with the economic efforts of Zaheer. His 12 overs yielded just 35 runs and he dealt Chamara Kapugedera's Test chances a blow when he snared him for just one run. Ishant Sharma conceded 36 runs in his 11 overs, but he had the wicket of opener Mahela Udawatte for seven, while India's third seamer Munaf Patel (one for 29) also got in the act. Harbhajan was another bowler proving to be a handful, while Kumble himself produced the best figures of the day with three for 30.
Dinesh Karthik, who came into the India team after Mahendra Singh Dhoni opted out of the tour due to fatigue, was tidy behind the stumps taking three catches. The only blemish for the Indians was the early dismissal of opener Gautam Gambhir (four) in their reply. Having got back into the Test team at the expense of regular opener Wasim Jaffer, Gambhir blew his first opportunity but is still likely to retain his place in the side for the first Test.
India were four for one at stumps.
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