Zaheer, Ishant find their feet in drawn game

Canberra: The pace duo of Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma got some vital bowling practice before India's three-day warm-up match against Cricket Australia Chairman's XI ended in a draw here on Wednesday.
Needing 145 runs to win from 30 overs, Chairman's XI made 100 for no loss in their second innings with Test discards Phil Hughes (42) and Usman Khawaja (56) serving a point to the selectors.
Regular Test opener David Warner didn't come out to bat in the second innings because of back pain.
Earlier, the Indians declared their second innings at 90 for 2 after the hosts, had declared their first innings at the overnight score of 215 for 7.
The two teams decided at the start of the day that they would bat for 30 overs each in their second innings in order to wrap up the game early.

Indians would carry mixed feelings from the final day's play as opener Virender Sehwag (8) failed for the second time in the match but a heart-warming sight for the tourists was the five-over spells by new-ball bowlers, Zaheer and Ishant.
While Sharma was laid low on the first morning of the two-day game against Chairman's XI last week, after bowling only 5.3 overs, troubled by his left ankle, Zaheer had bowled only gingerly in the nets and in the ongoing match here.
Zaheer and Ishant both bowled within themselves as they were trying to avoid putting too much load on their front legs at the point of delivery.
Earlier, Sehwag suffered his second failure of the match as India declared at 90 for 2.
Sehwag who was out for 12 in the first innings was dismissed in the second over of the day when he guided a Peter George delivery into the slip cordon for Tom Cooper to complete the catch.
Ajinkya Rahane didn't fare any better and was out for a duck after being around for 16 balls.
Gautam Gambhir (42*) and Rohit Sharma (38*) then put on 76 unbeaten runs for the third wicket before being called in by skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.



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