Northampton: India salvaged some pride with a seven-wicket burst in final session as they restricted Northamptonshire to 355 for seven even as strike bowler Zaheer Khan’s return to action ended in a whimper on final day of two-day warm-up match against here on Saturday.
The visitors claimed seven wickets in the dramatic final session with six of them coming in just 12.2 overs and at the expense of a mere 40 runs.
Leg-spinner Amit Mishra claimed three wickets for 70 while pacers Munaf Patel and S Sreesanth took two wickets each.
Northamptonshire made 355 for seven from the day’s play in reply to India’s 352 all out and were deemed winners on the basis of first innings.
The Indians were put to the sword by Northamptonshire in the first two sessions even though the tourists managed a few late wickets at the county ground here.
The openers of the hosts, Mal Loye (100) and Niall O’ Brien (117) hit individual centuries and put on 201 runs for the first wicket before some late wickets smoked the dominance of the local team. Loye and O’ Brien who have played one-day internationals for England and Ireland respectively, batted together for 47-odd overs and completely pulverised the Indians. While Loye hit 13 fours and two sixes from 149 balls, O’ Brien smashed 17 fours in his knock from 172 balls.
Loye was the first one to fall when he drove Munaf Patel to covers where Mahendra Singh Dhoni made no mistake. (PTI)
