Ishant Sharma rips Sri Lanka apart

Colombo: Ishant Sharma took 5/23 in a sensational spell of fast bowling to rout Sri Lanka Board President’s XI batting line-up as Indian bowled them out for a paltry 121 in their first innings on day two of the three-day warm-up match here.

The visitors then finished the day at 112/3 in 40 overs at stumps, after their top order collapsed once again. India’s 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 on Thursday.

India’s 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 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. But Ishant returned in the 8th over, his fourth and final of this spell, to remove Lahiru Thirimanne (5) and Kusal Perera (0). The former was caught behind at third slip by KL Rahul and the latter was bowled first ball, putting Ishant on another hat-trick. He missed this chance as well.

The fiery spell from Ishant read as following: 4-1-5-5. Afterwards, Umesh Yadav (0-24) and Varun Aaron (2-42) came into the attack but only bowled four overs between them until lunch. R Ashwin (2-8) and Harbhajan Singh (1-7) too bowled an over each before the break as Board President’s XI were placed at 38/5.

In the second session, India cleaned up the remaining batting line-up quickly. Aaron struck two quick blows removing Shehan Jayasuriya (7) immediately after the break. The 50-mark came up in the 18th over as also the next wicket as Aaron had Siriwardana was caught behind off Aaron again.

FoW: 1-108, 2-121, 3-130, 4-133, 5-267, 6-273, 7-314, 8-331, 9-331.

Bowling: Fernando 19-2-45-0, Gamage 15-2-65-1, Rajitha 17-2-68-5, Vandersay 20-1-76-2, Gamage 13.1-2-66-1, Siriwardana 4-2-14-0.

Sri Lanka Board President’s XI (1st innings): DM de Silva b I Sharma 0, JK Silva lbw b I Sharma 0, HDRL Thirimanne c Rahul b I Sharma 5, WU Tharanga lbw b I Sharma 0, TAM Siriwardana c Saha b Aaron 32, MDKJ Perera b I Sharma 0, Jayasuriya c Saha b Aaron 7, Dickwella b Ashwin 41, Gunathilaka c Yadav b Ashwin 28, Gamage lbw b Harbhajan Singh 2, CAK Rajitha (not out) 0. Extras (nb-6) 6. Total (in 31 overs) 121.

FoW: 1-0, 2-1, 3-1, 4-10, 5-10, 6-38, 7-51, 8-114, 9-117.

Bowling: Kumar 7-3-17-0, Sharma 7-1-23-5, Yadav 6-1-24-0, Aaron 6-0-42-2, Ashwin 3-1-8-2, Harbhajan 2-0-7-1.

Indians (2nd innings): RG Sharma lbw b Fernando 8, V. Kohli c Pathirana b Rajitha 18, W. Saha lbw b Fernando 1, C. Pujara (batting) 31, KL Rahul (batting) 47. Extras (b-1, w-5, nb-1) 7. Total (for three wickets in 40 overs) 112.

FoW: 1-22, 2-27, 3-28.

Bowling: Fernando 5-0-17-2, Gamage 7-0-15-0, Rajitha 7-2-16-1, Gamage 3-2-7-0, Pathirana 10-1-31-0, Jayasuriya 8-0-25-0.