Leicester: India were 364/7 in their second innings at stumps on Day 3, taking a lead of 366 runs against Leicestershire County Club in their practice match, here on Saturday.
Ravindra Jadeja (56 not out) and Mohammed Siraj (1 not out) will resume batting for India on Day 4.
The highlight of the Day 3 was that the practice match between India and Leicestershire turned into an open net with Cheteshwar Pujara batting for both sides, and Ravindra Jadeja and Shreyas Iyer getting two chances in the same innings.
Srikar Bharat and Hanuma Vihari resumed batting on Day 3 for India, who were 80 for one. Vihari once again looked like he didn’t have a lot of scoring options before edging right-arm seamer Will Davis behind. Saini produced a testing spell in which he dismissed KS Bharat first and then got Jadeja out for the first time with an edge through to slip.
Eventually, Virat Kohli came out to bat and he had an exciting battle with Bumrah, who bowled short of a length outside off. Kohli doesn’t play the orthodox square cut, but he found a way with the flashy punch. One of them even went for a six over the short off-side boundary. Eventually, though, the shot proved to be his undoing with a catch at square gully.
However, Kohli registered a half-century for India, to give them stability after a shaky start. A rare event occurred when Cheteshwar Pujara was stumped off the bowling of Sai Kishore. Pujara has been stumped in first-class cricket only three times. Sai Kishore managed the difficult task of beating Pujara in the air and then turning the ball past his edge.
Jadeja and Iyer, who got two chances then saw through most of the rest of the day. However, a casual flick from Iyer gave Nagarkoti his second wicket, the first being that of the No. 6 Shardul Thakur.
On Day 2, Leicestershire were bowled out for 244 with Rishabh Pant top-scoring (76).
Brief score: India 246 for 8 dec and 364 for 9 lead Leicestershire 244 by 366 runs
