Chelmsford: India failed to bowl out county side Essex in 94 overs before Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara suffered another batting failure on the final day of the one-off practice game, leaving the visitors with plenty to ponder ahead of the first Test.
Essex, resuming day three at 237 for five, went on to frustrate the Indians for 36 overs before declaring at 359 for eight, 36 short of the visitors’ effort in the first innings.
The play on the final day was called off one and a half hours before the scheduled 6pm local time due to rain, with India reaching 89 for two in 21.2 overs.
The away team would have been heading to Birmingham, the venue of the first Test, in a much better space if two of its key batsmen Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara had gotten some runs under their belt.
However, it was not to be as Dhawan departed without scoring for the second time in the match while Pujara perished after scoring 23 off 35 balls. Lokesh Rahul, who was among the runs in the first innings alongside skipper Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik, Murali Vijay and Hardik Pandya, was sent out to open alongside the struggling Dhawan.
Perhaps the biggest news of the day, however, came in the pre-lunch session when R Ashwin (0-21) bowled five overs. Ashwin bowled with decent control on a slow wicket not yet affording turn, and looked the best out of three spinners on display. Kuldeep Yadav (0-24) had also bowled in the morning session, his first outing in this game as well.
But Walter (75 runs, 123 balls, 13 fours, 1 six) got stuck into him, hitting three fours and a six in two overs, as he attacked the wrist spinner. It was surprising that the spinners bowled only 11 out of 94 overs India sent down in the Essex innings with Ravindra Jadeja (0-17) not bowling on this final day.
India’s pacers all had a good workout on day three as well, with Hardik Pandya (0-54) and Ishant Sharma (3-59) sharing the second new ball.
The latter struggled to find his line for the second day running, while Shardul Thakur (1-58) put in some vital horse work. Mohammed Shami (0-68) generated enough momentum to get into reckoning, should India choose to go in with only two full-time pacers in the first Test, given how Pandya bowled well enough in both innings.
As such, the stand out bowler for India in this game was Umesh Yadav who took 4-35 in 18 overs and always found enough movement to trouble the Essex batsmen. (PTI)
