Sri Lanka vs India 2017: Indian batsmen make merry against SLBP XI in warm-up match

The two-day match between Sri Lanka Board President's XI (SLBP XI) and the visiting Indian team ended in a stalemate after Virat Kohli and co. got some much-needed match practice in the longer formats over the last two days.

We begin Day ??of the warm-up against Board President's XI with captain @imVkohli & @ajinkyarahane88 on the crease #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/XwkeCGt1Is

— BCCI (@BCCI) July 22, 2017

After ending day 1 on 135/3, skipper Virat Kohli and his deputy Ajinkya Rahane started the day on a very good note as they batted fluently in the first one hour. The skipper notched up his half-century and both Kohli and Rahane retired themselves out on 53 and 40 respectively as they decided to allow others to spend some time in the middle ahead of the first Test.

Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, who are back in the Test fold after nearly 10 months, replaced Kohli and Rahane in the middle. Dhawan was off the blocks quickly as he struck boundaries at will. Rohit, on the other hand, started off on a cautious note as he took some time to get his eye in.

Once he felt comfortable in the crease, Rohit took on the Lankan bowlers as he smashed off-spinner Tharindu Kaushal for two consecutive sixes. Both the batsmen, who open the innings for India in ODIs, looked solid in their brief stay at the crease as India ended the first session on 246/5.

Rohit and Dhawan didn't come out to bat as they retired out for 38 and 41 respectively to allow Wriddhiman Saha and Hardik Pandya to have a hit in the middle. Pandya's innings was cut short after he was dismissed by Kaushal for just 11. Saha continued to bat and remained unbeaten on a 40-ball 36 when Kohli declared the Indian innings at 312/9 after Jadeja was stumped off the bowling off Kaushal for 18.

KL Rahul was the top scorer for the visitors with 54 followed by Kohli's 53 and Dhawan's 41. Vishwa Fernando and Kaushal took two wickets apiece for SLBP XI.

Earlier in the match, SLBP XI were dismissed for just 187 after they were cruising at 139/1. Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav took 4/14 in his 6.5 overs while Jadeja accounted for 3 wickets conceding 31 runs.

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All the 15 members of the Indian squad got to play in the match as some are auditioning for a spot in the playing XI for the first Test starting on July 26 in Galle.

Brief scores: India 312/9 decl. (KL Rahul 54, Virat Kohli 53, Shikhar Dhawan 41, Ajinkya Rahane 40, Rohit Sharma 38, Wriddhiman Saha 36*, Vishwa Fernando 2/37, Tharindu Kaushal 2/81) drew with SLBP XI 187 (Danushka Gunathilaka 74, Kuldeep Yadav 4/14, Ravindra Jadeja 3/31).