Leicester, June 24: Senior India pacer Mohammed Shami started warming up nicely for the upcoming one-off Test against England as he picked up a couple of wickets in the tour game against Leicestershire County Cricket Club here on Friday (June 24).
Shami picked up a couple of wickets in his first spell on day two of the four-day practice match at Grace Road after India captain Rohit Sharma declared the innings for 246 for 8.
The right-arm pacer dismissed Samuel Evans for 1 after getting him caught by Virat Kohli in the seventh over. The seamer picked a big fish in his next over when he clean bowled his India teammate Cheteshwar Pujara for a duck. Pujara - who came into the middle to bat at number three for Leicestershire - was outfoxed by his compatriot.
Soon after getting the wicket of Pujara, Shami ran towards the right-handed batsman and gave him a hug. Pujara - who made his comeback into the national side on the back of some fine performances with the bat for Sussex in the County season - walked back without making any contribution to the scoreboard.
☝️ | 𝐏𝐮𝐣𝐚𝐫𝐚 𝐛 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐢.
— Leicestershire Foxes 🏏 (@leicsccc) June 24, 2022
A second wicket for Shami. He dismisses his @BCCI teammate, as Pujara drags on.
Evison joins Kimber (28*).
🦊 LEI 34/2
𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌: https://t.co/APL4n65NFa 👈
🦊 #IndiaTourMatch | #LEIvIND | #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/ANf2NfhUAy
India vs Leicestershire warm-up game: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli fail to score big on day 1
LCCC, thus, lost their second wicket in quick succession. Later, Mohammed Siraj also picked up a couple of wickets and the hosts were 101/4 at lunch break.
Siraj first dismissed Leicestershire opener, Louis Kimber, by getting him caught behind by Srikar Bharat and later clean bowled Joey Evison with a beauty for 22.
Earlier on day one, senior India cricketers failed to impress with the bat and Srikar Bharat was the lone bright spot. At the close of play on day 1, the Rohit Sharma-led side had reached 246 for 8 on a rain-hit day.
Team India lost five big wickets in the first session of play and could only post 90 runs on the board. The opening pair of Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma started nicely but failed to convert the start into a big knock. Gill scored 21 while Sharma departed for 25.
Shreyas Iyer (0) and Hanuma Vihari (3) also went back cheaply. While Virat Kohli scored 33 before getting dismissed in a rather controversial fashion by the umpire. Bharat was the top scorer from India's side as the wicketkeeper-batsman was present at 70* when the umpires called for stumps.