India ended day one of their tour match against a Cricket Australia (CA) Xi on 2-99 after the hosts had been bowled out for 243. Jordan Silk, who scored 58, later picked out Mohammad Shami as India’s leading light.
Shami, who took 2-37 in his 12 overs at Gliderol Oval in Adelaide, was singled out by Silk.
“Shami was quite difficult early on,” said Silk. “His short ball is quite quick and a few of our guys found that challenging.
“When he got the ball in the right area he was quite effective.”
Silk and Sebastian Gotch (58*) scored the bulk of the runs for the CA XI side, while Jake Doran added a handy 25. Varun Aaron (4-41) and Karn Sharma (3-57) led the Indian bowling attack, while Mohammed Shami grabbed a couple.
Josh Lalor (2-18) picked up India’s first wicket in the second over of their innings when Shikhar Dhawan (0) clipped one off the pads to forward square leg where he was caught by Jonte Pattison.
Lalor followed up in the 11th over with the wicket of Cheteswar Pujara (22) who edged one to CA XI captain Ashton Turner at slip. At stumps India are 2-99 with Murali Vijay (39*) and Virat Kohli (30*) unbeaten at the crease.
The game marked the return of both sides to competitive action after the death of Phillip Hughes. After yesterday’s funeral, the mood was sombre, where a tribute reading “RIP P HUGHES 408″ was displayed on the scoreboard, referring to Hughes being the 408th Australian test cricketer. Team India put their bats out before the start of the tour game, there was no toss and India were allowed to bowl first. The players and officials, wearing black armbands, observed a minute’s silence before the start of the play.
Silk found it refreshing to get back to business: “It’s obviously very nice to be back out playing and a great opportunity for all of our boys to play against a quality opposition,” he said. “We’ve enjoyed the challenge so far and hopefully we can keep it up into tomorrow.
“I thought the service yesterday was very moving and emotional so it was nice to get out there and play today and pay our respects the only way we can and that’s playing cricket,” he continued. “We had a minutes silence before the game and a few of the Indian players put their bats out as well.”
The playing conditions were changed ahead of the match to increase each day’s play from 90 overs to 100 overs.
James Buttler
As the editor of World Cricket Badger he is intent on building the website to give quality coverage of the domestic game around the world.
He is also the presenter of the Cricket Badger Radio Show on Radio Yorkshire every Tuesday evening between 7-9pm UK time.
James was the full-time Media Manager at Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 2007 and 2010.
James is a published author, a writer/video contributor to many cricket publications and a complete cricket badger!
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