As expected, So far at the end of first innings England Lions played some great cricket against Indians and they piles a huge score of 296/8 in their allotted 50 overs with the help of 60 from Vikram Solanki and 56 from Luke Wright.
Earlier Indian captain M.S Dhoni won the toss and elected to field first in the absence of Rahul Dravid. Since their was overcast in the morning and rain expected in the afternoon. But it proves costly when Luke Wrights and Vikram Solanki hit the Indian bowler all around the park. Specially Luke Wright who scored brilliant half century in just 34 balls before he get out on the bowling of Ramesh Pawar. Ajit Agarkar strikes in his second over to give India a first break through but the dangerous Wrights and Vikram Solanki manage to play Indian bowlers very easily and score some lusty boundary in between 96 run stand for second wicket. Ramesh Pawar taken three quick wickets to reduce England Lions from 108/1 to 149/5. But Paul Nixon and Ravi Bopara played really cautiously and take some boundary in between them to move score board ticking. Both put on 73 runs for the Seventh wicket and this partnership was looking really dangerous from Indians point of view but thanks to part timer Yuvraj Singh who got the wicket of Paul Nixon and reduce the England Lions score to 222/6 in the 40th over. Ravi Bopara who was played well for his 37 runs was finally out on the bowling of Munaf Patel. Munaf was the most disappointing, erratic with his length and timid with pace. He was put off rhythm in the very first over and did not recover after, prompting questions about his fitness. Powar was the most impressive, mixing his flight well and not hesitating to throw it up when faced with an aggressive batsman. He was rewarded for his adventurous streak, something that could be said of Wright with the bat. Now Indians who is playing with only six batsman needs to play really well to achieve this daunting task of 297 runs to win. Match Summary: England Lions: 296/8 in 50 Overs V.Solanki – 60 Luke Wrights – 56 Paul Nixon – 39 Ravi bopara – 37 Ajit Agarkar – 2/41 Ramesh Pawar – 3/52 India need 297 runs to win this match in allotted 50 Overs. England Lions Vikram Solanki (C), Darren Maddy, Luke Wright, Ian Bell, Owais Shah Ravi Bopara, Paul Nixon, Chris Schofield, Tim Bresnan, Jon Lewis, James Kirtley Indians: Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Ramesh Powar, Piyush Chawla, Munaf Patel |
