Kent stop skipper from having a blast

The Indians brushed aside the 21-run upset suffered against Kent to post a massive 315 for seven in 50 overs against Leicester in the third and final practice match here today. Virender Sehwag doused a bit of his coach8217;s ire with a quickfire 98 and skipper Saurav Ganguly again shone with the bat slamming a 43-ball 68 in what was India8217;s final lead-up game before their tri-series encounter against England on Saturday.

Sehwag, criticised by coach John Wright for throwing his wicket all too often in the 30s and 40s, put his head down to make 98 from 87 balls with nine fours and three sixes and laid the basis for a strong Indian total. But the Indians squandered the opportunity to post a total in the excess of 400 runs as the middle-order once again flopped. Still it was an impressive total given star batsmen Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar were rested in the game.

nbsp;	SCOREBOARD	nbsp;
Indians: S.Ganguly c Flower b Crowe 68; V.Sehwag run out 98; VVS Laxman c Adshead b Grove 15; Yuvraj Singh c Ward b Flower 1; M.Kaif c Maddy b Grove 52; D.Mongia c Wright b Stevens 8; A.Agarkar c Stevens b Whiley 21; A.Ratra not out 8; Harbhajan Singh not out 8; Extras b5, lb13, w17, nb1: 36; Total for 7 wkts, 50 overs: 315 Fall of wickets: 1-132, 2-187, 3-190, 4-204, 5-231, 6-294, 7-299 Bowling: Whiley 10-0-57-1, Grove 10-1-58-2, Maddy 4-0-40-0, Crowe 10-1-62-1, Flower 7-0-34-1, Stevens 9-0-46-1

The more belligerent Sehwag was overshadowed by Ganguly today as he watched in awe his skipper blast 12 fours and two sixes, or 60 runs in boundary hits en route to his 68. The duo put on 132 runs for the first wicket in just 13 overs. India8217;s 100 was up in the 10th over, 150 in the 16th but then wickets started to fall and run-making was reduced to a trickle. VVS Laxman 15 spooned an easy catch to extra-cover; Yuvraj Singh 1 tamely lofted to midwicket fielder and Dinesh Mongia 8 hit in the air for the fielder to take a catch at long-off.