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Sunday, 2 June 2013

India vs Sri lanka Practice match

Practice match at Birmingham

A chilly morning at Birmingham and cold winds blowing, made every one feel that this day would favor the bowlers. But what happened in the next 7 and a half hours was worth watching.
The bowlers of both the team were found looking for shelter. And the wicket became a batsman's paradise. On the morning Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to field first. From the very first over it looked to be Sri Lanka's game as the openers Dilshan and Perera smashed the Indian bowlers to every part of the ground. A century partnership between these two ensured that their team made a huge total on the board.Dilshan made 84 and Perera scored 82. After this they retired to let their other teammates have a bat on this track. After this Sangakara, Jayavardhane, Thisara and Chandimal played some cameos to help their team score 333/3. A huge total was put forward for Indian batsmen.

India did not get the best of starts and lost Shikhar Dhawan for 1 run. Next was M.Vijay who fell for just 18 runs. Rohit Sharma who had an exemplary IPL season could not do justice to his T20 form and fell for just 5 runs. Raina and Kohli had a small but good partnership but Raina fell for 34 runs as he was bowled by Senanaike. At 110/4 India looked on backfoot and in trouble. But the new batsman Karthik and Kohli had other plans. They first played slowly and sensibly and then accelerated at the right time. Kohli completed his century in just 86 balls and made 144 before getting to a slower ball. But before getting out he ensured that his 186 run partnership with the birthday boy Karthik helped India to register it's first win. Karthik too completed his century in 80 something balls and made 108 runs and finished the game with a four towards off side. Dhoni also made 18 runs and had an unbeaten 41 run partnership with Karthik.
Though this was a practice match, this win will boost the confidence of Indian team and it's batsman.

The only concern for both teams will be the bowling department which has to click along with the batting unit if they wish to win this prestigious trophy.

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