India declare on 388 for 7 against Sussex on day 2

Hove, July 8 (UNI) India consolidated its position against Sussex, showing resoluteness in the morning session before Saqlain Mushtaq and Ollie Rayner triggered a collapse just after lunch as India declared the innings on 388 for 7 on the second day of their first warm up match against the county side.

The second day's procedings were initiated by the elegant VVS Laxman, with stylish left-hander Yuvraj Singh giving him company, both of whom probably are vying for the vacant fifth spot in the batting line up as captain Rahul Dravid left the field with a mild calf strain injury.

However the going was not easy for both the batsmen in the morning hours as Sussex opted for the new ball, but both of them seemed determined to prove a point and stuck to their task.

At lunch, Laxman was batting at 80, while Yuvraj was unbeaten on a sedate innings of 31 with few aggressive moments in between.

However, Yuvraj fell to Rayner's trick in the first over after the break as he tried to charge down the spinner only to the Andy Hodd knocking the stumps down as he failed to reach the pitch of the ball.

After Yuvraj India's newly-appointed vice-captain MS Dhoni also was undone by a doosra from Rayner at five and with Saqlain at his mesmerising best took India's sixth wicket as Kumble (2) was caught by Montgomerie on a delivery that had extra bounce.

Seeing wickets tumbling at the other end, Laxman too was caught in a dilemma whether to attack or to continue with his natural game.

He failed to reach a well deserve three figure mark after battling for nearly three hours, as he was caught at 95 by Montgomerie from a Saqlain doosra, which eventually prompted the Indian captain to declare the innings.

Indians 1st innings Scoreboard: Dinesh Karthik b Saqlain Mushtaq 76 Wasim Jaffer c Andy Hodd b Martin-Jenkins 12 Gautam Gambhir c&b Michael Yardy 81 Rahul Dravid retired hurt 57 VVS Laxman c Montgomerie b Saqlain Mushtaq 95 Yuvraj Singh st Andy Hodd b Ollie Rayner 31 MS Dhoni lbw b Ollie Rayner 5 A Kumble c Montgomerie b Saqlain Mushtaq 2 S Sreesanth not out 7 Extras (B 12 LB 6 W 3 NB 1) 22 Total (Declared in 130.5 overs for seven wickets) 388 Fall of wickets : 1/37, 2/166, 3/206, 4/357, 5/367, 6/375, 7/388 Bowling Sussex: Jason Lewry 21 6 53 0 James Kirtley 24 7 69 0 Robin M Jenkins 21 5 48 1 Chris Liddle 15 1 48 0 Saqlain Mushtaq 29.5 4 71 3 Michael Yardy 9 1 33 1 Ollie Rayner 8 0 34 2 Carl Hopkinson 3 0 14 0 UNI