Veteran India speedster Mohammed Shami has provided India with a promising start on the second day of the ongoing four-day warm-up game against Leicestershire Foxes at the Grace Road, Leicester.
Notably, to ensure that all the members of the visiting side get to play a warm-up game ahead of their crucial one-off Test against England, four Indian players, namely Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, and Prasidh Krishna are playing for Leicestershire.
After declaring their inning for the overnight score of 246 for 8, India got a terrific start as the right-arm quick bowler struck twice with his sizzling pace early in the morning session to remove openers Sam Evans and Cheteshwar Pujara.
In the 9th over of the innings, Shami bowled a good length delivery, which took an inside edge after climbing up and crashed into the middle stump, cleaning up Pujara for a 6-ball duck.
The 31-years old visibly enjoyed Pujara's dismissal as he jumped while running towards Pujara to give him a back hug and warm send-off while he was walking back to the pavilion.
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Pujara isn't having the best of times in international cricket as the 34-year-old was dropped from the Indian Test side for the home series against Sri Lanka after a string of poor performances. However, after smashing 4 consecutive tons, including two double centuries for Sussex in the County Championship, he was called up again into the team for the one-off Test against England.
Earlier, India declared their innings for a score of 246-8. The wicket-keeper batter KS Bharat top-scored for the team, having smashed 70 runs and remained unbeaten. Former India skipper Virat Kohli also looked in good touch on the opening day of the Test, scoring 33 before being wiped out by Roman Walker, the uncapped England pacer.
India captain Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill managed to score 25 and 21, respectively. Hanuma Vihari could score just 3 runs after facing 23 deliveries while Shreyas Iyer couldn't open his run account despite playing 11 balls.
At the time of the writing, Leicestershire is trailing by 145 runs, having scored 101 for the loss of 4 wickets. Apart from Mohammed Shami, Siraj has claimed two wickets as well.