Sachin warms up for Test series with a timely half century

By Chris Dhambarage

CRICKET: Master batsman Sachin Tendulkar warmed up for the up coming Test series against Sri Lanka with a timely half century before India collapsed to 196 for 8 in their first innings on the second day of their tour match against the Board XI continued at the NCC grounds in Maitland Place yesterday.

Tendulkar's knock of 69 was a class act as he cut and pulled with gay abundance while collecting his runs from just 76 deliveries inclusive of one six and eight boundaries. However India lost wickets at regular intervals and they are still trailing the Board XI by 28 runs with only two wickets in hand.

India's hopes of making steady progress of course was shattered following heavy overnight rain which delayed the start of play by more than an hour. But once the game got underway opener Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid got their act together well and looked like taking their side to a commanding position.

Tendulkar who needs only 172 runs to beat Brian Lara's Test aggregate of 11,953 runs took over from there onwards and dominated the second session while adding 62 runs for the sixth wicket along with wicket keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik who also hit a fighting unbeaten half century with six boundaries.

Their partnership was an important one for India because they came together when the team was struggling at 80 for 5 with Dhammika Prasad striking two vital blows. The paceman snapped up the key wickets of Ganguly and Laxman before removing Zaheer Khan during the latter stages to finish with the best figures of three wickets for 30 runs.

This match is India's only warm up fixture ahead of the three Test series against Sri Lanka which begins at the SSC grounds in Maitland Place on Wednesday.

SRI LANKA BOARD XI - 1ST INNINGS
224 (S. H. T. Kandamby 84, L. P.C. Silva 68, A. Kumble 3 for 30)

INDIA - 1ST INNINGS
(overnight 4 for 1)
G. Gambhir c Mubarak b Fernando	   		 4
V. Sehwag lbw b Herath	  			27
R. Dravid run out	   			 5	
S. R. Tendulkar c K. Silva b Prasanna	  	69
S. C. Ganguly c Udawatte b Prasad	  	14	
V. V. S. Laxman hit wicket b Prasad	   	 0
K. D. Karthik not out	  			58
Harbhajan Singh c Udawatte b Fernando	  	12	
Z. Khan c de Silva b Prasad	   		 1
Extras (b4, nb2)	   			 6
TOTAL (for 8 wickets in 49 overs)	 	196

TO BAT: A. Kumble, M. M. Patel, I. Sharma.
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-4, 2-27, 3-58, 4-80, 5-80, 6-142, 7-172, 8-196.
BOWLING: Fernando 10-1-27-2, De Silva 10-0-51-0, 
Prasad 8-2-30-3, Herath 13-3-59-1, Prasanna 8-2-25-1.