A pair of left-handed, unrelated Rogers exposed the lack of bite in India's support bowling cast on a sweltering Friday at the Manuka Oval. Day two of the three-day warm-up tie belonged in large measure to the home side as ACT Invitational XI surged to 292 for eight in response to the Indians' 325 for nine declared.
It wasn't as if India didn't have their moments, but much of the joy was provided by the bowlers that had played in the Sydney Test. Ishant Sharma capitalised on the experience of having bowled to some of the best batsmen in the world to cut a swathe through the hosts in the first session, the sparingly used Rudra Pratap Singh struck one each in both his spells and Harbhajan Singh posed a multitude of challenges with his clever, uninhibited variations.
The very fact that the focus was on this trio, rather than the men expected to stake their claims for the Perth Test beginning on Wednesday, tells a tale in itself. Irfan Pathan was the most impressive of the three pacers who haven't had a competitive bowl all tour, though the same can't be said of either Pankaj Singh or Vikram Rajvir Singh.
Pathan, of course, is no greenhorn. The loss of swing, and almost resultantly rhythm, had ushered him out of the national side, but in the last four months, he has shown signs of turning the corner. The left-armer bowled with purpose and vigour, getting the ball to shape away from the plethora of left-handers in the Invitational XI and mixing it up by allowing the ball to come in with the angle; by contrast, Pankaj and VRV Singh were both disappointing, and not necessarily because they didn't have wickets against their names.
Both men are almost similarly well built. VRV Singh is by far the quicker of the two, though express pace was nowhere in evidence on an excellent batting strip. His repeated dalliances with the popping crease -- he had 11 no-balls -- probably took some of his focus away as well; the Punjab speedster, a replacement for the injured Zaheer Khan, hardly ever troubled the batsmen, nor did Pankaj.
Labouring to hit the crease at the start of the day, the Rajasthan lad on his first tour with the senior team gradually grew in confidence as the day wore on, but while he did brook careful watching, he didn't pose the same threat Ishant did when he picked up three wickets in a four-over burst, or RP Singh, who was excellent even though he bowled well within himself.
The two Rogers were both outstanding. Opener Chris, 30, is a very experienced and accomplished batsman who might yet play in Perth if Matthew Hayden doesn't recover in time from his hamstring injury. Brought up playing a lot at the WACA ground, it came as no surprise that he chose the cut and the pull as his major scoring options, stemming the rot triggered by Ishant's early strikes after the Invitational XI resumed at 10 without loss.
John, who will be 21 next month, is a compact little player who favours the off-side, equally happy driving as he is playing forcing shots with a horizontal bat. Showing a wonderful propensity to put the bad balls away, he punished every indiscretion in length, even as he handled Harbhajan's off-spin with not too much discomfort. The Turbanator had ended Chris' contribution at 60 (141m, 92b, 5x4), but the younger Rogers appeared determined to keep his tryst with the three-fgure mark.
Having reduced the hosts to 100 for four, India were held up by John's successive half-century stands with Randall Starr and James Crosthwaite. Having surged through the 70s and 80s, he appeared a bundle of nerves in the 90s, trying to use attack as means to quickly reach 100. It was an invitation for disaster, RP Singh having him caught at deep point with the second new ball for 98. A sad end to an exceptional innings, but John will make several hundreds in future, make no mistake.

SCORE BOARD

INDIANS (I Innings): 325/9 decl in 84 overs
ACT INVITATIONAL XI (I Innings): Chris Rogers lbw Harbhajan 60 (141m, 92b, 5x4), Ed Cowan b Ishant 14 (70m, 50b, 1x4), Jonathon Dean lbw Ishant 0 (3m, 3b), Mark Higgs c Kaarthick b Ishant 1 (34m, 10b), John Rogers c VRV Singh b RP Singh 98 (247m, 189b, 12x4), Randall Starr lbw RP Singh 27 (93m, 69b, 2x4), James Crosthwaite st Kaarthick b Sehwag 27 (83m, 63b, 3x4), Adam Ritchard b Pathan 15 (75m, 53b, 2x4), Richard Sherlock (batting) 11 (40m, 29b), Luke Swards (batting) 4 (6m, 4b, 1x4). Extras (B-10, LB-12, W-2, NB-11) 35. Total (for 8 wkts, 93 overs) 292.
Fall of wickets: 1-41 (Cowan), 2-45 (Dean), 3-83 (Higgs), 4-100 (C Rogers), 5-174 (Starr), 6-241 (Crosthwaite), 7-269 (J Rogers), 8-285 (Ritchard).
Bowling: Irfan Pathan 18-3-56-1 (w-1), Ishant Sharma 11-4-26-3 (w-1), Pankaj Singh 14-2-36-0, Vikram Rajvir Singh 11-0-39-0 (nb-11), Harbhajan Singh 13-1-32-1, Virender Sehwag 11-1-37-1, Rudra Pratap Singh 9-2-16-2, Yuvraj Singh 5-0-21-0, Mahendra Singh Dhoni 1-0-7-0.