India 'A' bowlers tame England Lions

India 'A' bowlers dished out a superb collective show as they took firm control of the four-day game against England Lions here on Thursday.

Naveep Saini and Shahbaz Nadeem bagged three wickets apiece while Varun Aaron and Jalaj Saxena took two wickets each as England Lions tumbled to 140 all out in 48.4 overs. Having taken a 252-run lead, India 'A' skipper KL Rahul had no hesitation is aking the Lions to follow-on and visitors took stumps at 24/0 in 6 overs.

Earlier, the Lions fought back strongly to stop India 'A' at 392 after the hosts had resumed at 282 for three.

Test discard Karun Nair didn't add to his overnight score of 14, nicking one to keeper Ollie Pope off Zak Chappell.

Wickets tumbled as the England bowlers stuck to their task. Only K S Bharat, a centurion in the last game, made a significant contribution, with a belligerent 46 before being the last man out.

Chappell was the best bowler for the Lions with 4 for 60 while spinner Danny Briggs recovered from a tough first day to finish with 3 for 71.

The England openers started positively, making 23 in the first five overs before Max Holden departed for 19, leg-before to Saini (3/30).

Sam Hain, who had scored a fifty in the first 'Test', and Duckett couldn't forge a significant partnership with the latter edging one to Bharat off Aaron (2/47), who worked up good pace.

The Indian bowlers came to the fore, striking at regular intervals to dismiss the Lions in 48.4 overs.

The talented Pope was the top-scorer with 25 as the rest of the line-up faltered against the varied bowling attack which saw medium-pacer Saini and left-arm spinner Nadeem (3/32) produce fine performances.

Aaron, who has been out of the national set-up for a while now, bagged two wickets as did Kerala all-rounder Saxena (2/10), with his off-spin.

England's openers then survived six overs.

DH News Service