Kolkata: Skipper Sanju Samson (128, 143b, 19×4, 1×6) stood out with a sublime century to lead Board President’s XI (BPXI) fightback against visiting Sri Lanka as their two-day tour match ended in a draw here Sunday.
In reply to Sri Lanka’s 411/9 declared, the Board President’s XI were struggling at 31/2 after lunch on the second day, but Samson patiently built his innings and helped his side reach 287/5 when both captains agreed on a stalemate after 75 overs. The Kerala youngster showed big match temperament as he took on the Sri Lankan Test attack with ease.
Samson anchored the Board innings with three useful partnerships of 68, 71 and 85 runs with Jiwanjot Singh (35, 99b, 3×4), Rohan Prem (39, 61b, 5×4) and Bavanaka Sandeep (33 n o. 74b, 3×4) respectively. On a track that offered little help to bowlers, Sri Lanka ended up using 10 bowlers.
On a frustrating day for the Lankan attack, it was their new-ball bowler Lahiru Thirimanne (2/41), who was most effective. The medium pacer dismissed Tanmay Agarwal (16) and Akash Bhandari (3) in successive overs to give them a promising start before Samson seized the momentum and completed his fifty from 63 balls.
Samson completed his century driving off-spinner Dhananjaya de Silva through cover for two runs and charged him next ball over deep midwicket for the innings’ only six. He tried to play an uppercut against a bouncer by Vishwa Fernando but the ball kissed his bat before going into the safe hands of Sadeera Samarawickrama.
Brief scores: Sri Lanka 411/9 decl; India 287/5 (Sanju Samson 128; Lahiru Thirimanne 2/22). Match drawn.
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