Ishant shines with the ball, but Kohli and Rohit fail again

Ishant Sharma claimed a five-wicket haul in a sensational spell of fast bowling to rout the Sri Lankan Board President's XI batting line-up but Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma failed with the bat for the second time in the match, on day two of the three-day warm-up match in Colombo, on Friday.

Ishant sizzled with excellent figures five for 23 in seven overs to bundled out the hosts for a paltry 121 in their first innings. In reply, India recovered after a few early wickets to reach 112 for three in their second innings at stumps to stretch their overall lead to 342 runs.

Despite having the upperhand, there were a few worries for India as far as the upcoming Test series is concerned. Captain Kohli and Sharma, who opened for India in the second innings, struggled to get among the runs.

Rohit, who was dropped at leg slip on one, failed to make most of his lifeline and dismissed leg before wicket by Vishwa Fernando for eight in the seventh over of the innings.

Kohli (18) had a close shave when he survived a close call for LBW early in his innings. He hit a boundary but was caught at mid-off soon after in the 11th over off Kasun Rajitha

Wriddhiman Saha also got a promotion with a view to give him some batting practice ahead of the Tests but he didn't last long and was scalped leg before by Fernando for one as the Indians slipped 28 for three, losing three wickets for six runs in the space of 20 deliveries.

K L Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara brought the Indian innings back on track with an unbroken stand of 84 runs for the fourth wicket. Rahul looked fluent from the start as he made 47, while Pujara blossomed after a cautious start to score 31.

Earlier, Ishant ran through the Sri Lankan top order, claiming the first five wickets, to finish with superb figures of five for 23 in seven overs.

Varun Aaron and Ravichandran Ashwin took two wickets each.

India, earlier bowled out for 351, secured a huge 230-run first innings lead.

Ajinkya Rahane top-scored for India with 109, while Shikhar Dhawan stroked 62.

Ishant, who started with two wickets in his first over, was virtually unplayable in his first spell as he registered magical figures of 4-1-5-5 which left the hosts tottering on 35 for five in 14 overs at the lunch break.

The Sri Lankans had no answers to his pace and swing on a humid day. The lanky bowler, who shared the new ball with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, removed both the openers -- Dhananjaya de Silva and Kaushal Silva -- for ducks.

He kept up the good work by dismissing Upul Tharanga (0) in his next over before trapping Board President's XI captain Lahiru Thiramanne leg before wicket for five.

Kusal Perera was bowled for a duck off the very first delivery of Ishant's fourth over, giving the pacer the first five wickets. The scoreboard read a sorry 10 for five in the eight overs.

Milinda Siriwardana was the only top order batsman to get into double digits; he scored a fluent 32 from 48 balls, hitting six fours, before he was caught behind off Varun Aaron.

Niroshan Dickwalla (31 not out) and Danushka Gunathilaka (15 not out) sort of steadied the ship and swelled the Sri Lankans' total.

Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 314 for six, the Virat Kohli-led Indians were dismissed for 351.

Rahane retired on his overnight score of 109 before the Indian lower collapsed.

Medium-pacer Kasun Rajitha bagged two more wickets on Friday morning to return impressive figures of five for 68.

Overnight batsman Ashwin stuck around to score 23 before being scalped by Rajitha, while Harbhajan Singh (15) and Amit Mishra (0) followed him soon after.

Kohli failed with the bat on the opening day, dismissed for 8, while Lokesh Rahul (43), Shikhar Dhawan (62) and Cheteshwar Pujara (42) came up with useful contributions.

The visitors could only survive 9.1 overs in the morning session after 79 overs were possible on Day 1.

The rules of a practice game are applicable in this match with a set of 15 players allowed per side but only 11 can bat and field at a time.

Scorecard

Indians (1st innings):

Lokesh Rahul c Gunathilaka b Nisala Gamage 43

Shikhar Dhawan c Perera b Rajitha 62

Rohit Sharma b Rajitha 7

Virat Kohli c Siriwardana b Rajitha 8

Ajinkya Rahane retired out 109

Cheteshwar Pujara c Pathirana b Vandersay 42

Wriddhiman Saha c Thirimanne b Vandersay 3

Ravichandran Ashwin c Tharanga b Rajitha 23

Harbhajan Singh b P Gamage 15

Amit Mishra c Thirimanne b Rajitha 0

Bhuvneshwar Kumar not out 9

Extras: (b: 7, lb: 10, w: 4, nb: 9) 30

Total: (all out, in 88.1 overs) 351

Fall of wickets: 1-108, 2-121, 3-130, 4-133, 5-267, 6-273, 7-314, 8-331, 9-331, 10-351.

Bowling: Vishwa Fernando 19-2-45-0, Nisala Gamage 15-2-65-1, Kasun Rajitha 17-2-68-5, Jeffrey Vandersay 20-1-76-2, Lahiru Gamage 13.1-2-66-1, Milinda Siriwardana 4-2-14-0.

Sri Lanka Board President's XI (1st innings):

R Dhananjaya de Silva b I Sharma 0

Kaushal Silva lbw b I Sharma 0

Lahiru Thirimanne c Rahul b I Sharma 5

Upul Tharanga lbw b I Sharma 0

Milinda Siriwardana c Saha b Aaron 32

Kusal Perera b I Sharma 0

Shehan Jayasuriya c Saha b Aaron 7

N Dickwella b Ashwin 31

M Gunathilaka c Yadav b Ashwin 28

N Gamage lbw b Harbhajan 2

C Rajitha not out 0

Extras: (nb: 6) 6

Total: (all out, in 31 overs) 121

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-1, 3-1, 4-10, 5-10, 6-38, 7-51, 8-114, 9-117, 10-121

Bowling: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 7-3-17-0, Ishant Sharma 7-1-23-5, Umesh Yadav 6-1-24-0, Varun Aaron 6-0-42-2, Ravichandran Ashwin 3-1-8-2, Harbhajan Singh 2-0-7-1.

Indians (2nd innings):

R Sharma lbw b Fernando 8

V Kohli c Pathirana b Rajitha 18

W Saha lbw b Fernando 1

C Pujara not out 31

Lokesh Rahul not out 47

Extras (b 1, w 5, nb 1) 7

Total (for 3 wickets in 40 overs) 112

Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-27, 2-28.

Bowling: M Fernando 5-0-17-2, P Gamage 7-0-15-0, C Rajitha 7-2-16-1, N Gamage 3-2-7-0, S Pathirana 10-1-31-0, D Jayasuriya 8-0-25-0.

Image: Ishant Sharma.