Riding on half centuries by three middle-order batsmen, India 'A' on Monday gained a 60 run first innings lead over Sri Lanka 'A', but negated the advantage somewhat after losing six wickets on the action-packed second day of their four-day match at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad.
The Lankans could add just one run to their overnight score of 243 for eight this morning as speedster Amit Bhandari removed tailenders L Lakshitha and R Marlinga in the space of eight balls to take his innings tally to six wickets.
In reply, the Indians made a steady start, but lost their openers -- skipper Shiv Sundar Das and Gautam Gambhir -- when the scoreboard read 96.
One-down batsman Mohammed Kaif and Hemang Badani scored half-centuries, but failed to convert them into big scores, as the hosts continued to lose wickets at regular intervals.
Left-hander Badani, who cracked an aggressive 50 with five boundaries and a six, was caught by wicket-keeper P Jayawardane when he tried to cut an outgoing delivery from spinner Herath.
Kaif, who made a patient 53 of 149 balls with four fours, also perished to a Herath delivery as he offered a forward defensive stroke to be caught at silly point by Lanka De Silva.
Like Kaif and Badani, Rohan Gavaskar also failed to capitalise on his half-century. The Bengal southpaw smashed six fours and two towering sixes for his 60, which came off 82 balls, before he ambitiously tried to clear midoff only to be caught by Lakshitha.
The Lankans were not very impressive with their bowling, as they conceded 29 no-balls, the main offender being Marlinga, who bowled 19 of them. Marlinga overstepped in 13 of the 18 overs he bowled.
Scoreboard:
Sri Lanka 'A' (Ist innings):
Ian Daniel c Gavaskar b Bhandari 11
P Jayawardane c Ratra b Bhandari 0
Jehan Mubarak c Ratra b Trivedi 14
Naveed Nawaz lbw b Trivedi 5
Lanka De Silva c Ratra b Bhandari 13
T Kandamby c sub (Rayudu) b M Patel 44
A Pollonowita c M Patel b Powar 33
R Herath c Gambhir b Bhandari 51
O Wijesiriwardane not out 49
T Lakshitha lbw b Bhandari 9
L Marlinga c Ratra b Bhandari 0
Extras: (b-4, lb-4, nb-7) 15
Total: (all out in 91.2 overs) 244
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-24, 3-26, 4-41, 5-72, 6-116, 7-142, 8-209, 9-244
Bowling: Munaf Patel 15-2-47-1, Amit Bhandari 22.1-8-55-6, Siddharth Trivedi 21-4-70-2, Ramesh Powar 22-6-36-1, Rohan Gavaskar 4.1-0-10-0, S Sriram 7-2-18-0
India 'A' (Ist Innings):
S S Das c Jayawardane b Lakshitha 40
G Gambhir c Jayawardane b Wijesiriwardane 27
M Kaif c L De Silva b Herath 53
H Badani c Kandamby b Herath 50
S Sriram c Jayawardane b Herath 7
R Gavaskar c Lakshitha b Pollonowita 60
A Ratra batting 21
R Powar batting 10
Extras: (b-1, lb-5, w-1, nb-29) 36
Total: (For 6 wickets in 86 overs) 304
Fall of wickets: 1-66, 2-96, 3-175, 4-189, 5-232, 6-287
Bowling: Marlinga 18-1-67-0, Lakshitha 11-0-59-1, Wijesiriwardane 17-2-60-1, Herath 22-3-70-3, Pollonowita 14-0-33-1, Mubarak 4-1-9-0
