India vs Leicestershire Day 2 Highlights: India lead by 82 runs, Pant entertains

And that means Rishabh Pant walks in. Kimbed edges it to the wicketkeeper and has to walk off. Let's see if Pant lasts longer than Pujara did. 

Shami has been taken off and Shardul Thakur replaces him. Mohammed Siraj can be seen warming up in the background and so it does look like he will replace Umesh Yadav. Both Shami and Umesh have bowled five overs each. 

Well how about that. Pujara has been the man in form but he is not getting the better of Shami. Gets a bottom edge and the ball crashes on to the stumps. Shami spreads his arms and runs towards Pujara before giving him a hug. Smiles all around, even Pujara has got one as he walks off. Leicestershire 22/2

Shami bangs it in at a length and squares up Sam Evans, the Leicestershire captain. Outside edge and the ball is pouched by Kohli at first slip. Leicestershire 14/1 and Cheteshwar Pujara now walks in. 

No wickets to show yet but some valuable overs coming under the belt for Shami and Umesh. 

Mohammed Shami opens the bowling for India and partnering him is Umesh Yadav. Two tight overs up first by the Indians as both are getting the ball to move. Shami testing Kimber outside off stump. The Leicestershire openers are up against a stiff challenge. As the commentators just pointed out… 'right now it's a question of survival.' A maiden from Shami in his second over. Leicestershire 7/0 after 3 overs.

Latest coming from the venue is that India have declared their first innings on their overnight score of 246/8, ideally to give their pacers enough time to have a crack at the Leicestershire batters. Over to Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav

Could be. Bharat has batted brilliantly with the tail so far. He added 66 runs for the seventh wickets with Umesh Yadav and another unbeaten 32 so far with Shami. He did accelerate well once he saw wickets going down at the other end, But today promises to be a fresh start, and under dark clouds, Bharat might just be a little restrained at first. Bharat is 30 away from a century and he might just be eyeing that elusive three-figure mark.  

Prasidh Krishna, one of the four Indian players representing Leicestershire proved to be a gun against the Indian XI yesterday. With the new ball, Prasidh was relentless, as he repeatedly challenged Kohli's off-side play. As long as the ball stayed new, Prasidh was on the money as he extracted plenty of bounce and bowled with pace. Kohli and Co. were beaten on several instances and was rewarded with the wicket of Shreyas. India may not want to overlook him as a potential fourth pacer candidate for the Edgbaston Test starting July 1.  

The status of R Ashwin is still up in the air. Although no official statement is out yet, but the commentator on air yesterday did mention that Ashwin has landed in Leicestershire. In fact, one of the images also showed Ashwin training with the Indian tea. However, whether Ashwin will take any part in the tour game remains to be seen. The general feeling is no, simply because if he had to, Ashwin should have batted by now ahead of Shami, unless the team management really decides to spring a surprise.

Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant are two of the four Indian cricketers who are representing the Leicestershire 13. Pujara, give the form he has been in during his county stint not too long ago, would be eager to face the ball on his bat and gear up for the Edgbaston Test. And then there is Pant, who scored a scintillating century during a warm-up against the Sydney XI in late 2020. Pant doesn't hold back in internationals, so it should be safe to say that he will be swinging hard at the Indian bowlers.

It rained thrice on Day 1 during the passage of play and final time it did, the showers forced early stumps. Day 2 is expected to behave pretty much similarly. It will be cloudy, overcast for most part of the day with some showers expected. But as long as those aren't heavy spell, play shouldn't be hampered much.

Another highlight from yesterday was the sight of Jasprit Bumrah steaming in to his India captain Rohit Sharma. These two may have faced off many times in the nets but this was the first time in a competitive match that Bumrah bowled to Rohit. And trust us, it was a sight to behold. Bumrah with the new ball against Rohit was full-on theatre. He bowled with pace, got the ball to swing and bounce. He even struck Rohit on the box, the blow briefly putting the India captain in discomfort. IT WAS SPECIAL

Hanuma Vihari and Shreyas Iyer are expected to play a big role in India's rescheduled fifth Test against England and after their disastrous outing on the first day of the warm-up, the two batters really need to come up with something special. Vihari looked extremely uncomfortable during his stay at the crease before he was out caught behind for 3. Iyer, on the other hand, expected to be Ajinkya Rahane's replacement at No. 5, endured a duck, inside edging India teammate Prasidh Krishna to Rishabh Pant. Vihari and Iyer were the two most unassured batters on Day 1.

The opening day was all about the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, but neither could make a real big score. While Rohit was out to the pull shot for 25, Kohli looked a lot assured, scoring a patient 33 with the help of four boundaries and a six. He may have gotten out but Kohli looked really good for the 69 balls he batted. For Leicestershire, Roman Walker was the star as he ran through the Indian batting line-up. Leicester could have had India for a lot less had it not been for KS Bharat's rearguard effort batting with the tail.

Hello and a very warm welcome to Day 2 of India's four-day warm-up tie against Leicestershire. Day 1 lived up to its expectations as the star Indian batting line-up was put to test against the Leicestershire XI. But on a day that was expected to be dominated by the starry Indian batting line-up, 21-year-old Roman Walker walked away with the honours as he claimed a five-wicket-haul, his wickets including that of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. With India half their team down inside 100, support came from wicketkeeper batter KS Bharat, who notched up a gritty half-century, that took India close to 250 at stumps. Another enthralling day awaits, one that will see Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant getting their chances with the bat.