Sanju Samson leads BPXI reply with century in drawn warm-up game against Sri Lanka

Sanju Samson scored a fine 128 that saw his side secure a draw against Sri Lanka in Kolkata. (Source: AP)

Sanju Samson made batting look easy and then raced to a century, helping his team earn a draw in the two-day warm-up game against Sri Lanka. Responding to a formidable total of 411 posted by the visitors, IBXI scored 287/5 at the end of days play. While at one stage the hosts did seem under pressure when they lost a couple of early wickets, it was skipper Sanju Samson who prevented any further damage by a scoring a sublime hundred and stitching a couple of crucial partnerships towards the end to earn a draw.

After winning the toss and opting to bat first, the Lankans got off to a fine start. An opening partnership of 134 runs between Sadeera Samarawickrama and Dimuth Karunaratne gave the visitors a good platform to build upon. Courtesy of four half-centuries from the Sri Lankan batsmen the visitors posted a competitive total of 411/6. Sadeera Samarawickrama and Niroshan Dickwella batted well to stroke their way to fine half centuries. Meanwhile, the inexperienced BPXI attack lacked the incisiveness to trouble the Lankan batsmen and kept leaking runs at a rate of more than four runs per over.

After declaring their innings on 411, the visitors put pressure on the hosts as BPXI lost wickets early on. Tanmay Agarwal and Akash Bhandari were the first to depart. But from thereon skipper Samson and Jiwanjot Singh dug deep to prevent a collapse. While Singh went to score 35, Samson slammed a brilliant 128. His innings featured 19 fours and a solitary six. Samson stiched small partnerships with Jiwanjot Singh, Rohan Prem (39) and B Sandeep (33) before bringing up his century shortly after Tea. At the end of days play, B Sandeep and Jalaj Saxena remained unbeaten as BPXI posted 287/5.

Brief scores: Sri Lanka 411/9 decl. drew with Board President’s XI 287/5 in 75 overs (S Samson 128; L Gamage 2/41)

SQUADS

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Niroshan Dickwella(w), Dinesh Chandimal(c), Roshen Silva, Lahiru Thirimanne, Dhananjaya de Silva, Angelo Mathews, Dasun Shanaka, Rangana Herath, Dilruwan Perera

Indian Board Presidents XI: Tanmay Agarwal, Sanju Samson(w/c), Jiwanjot Singh, Abhishek Gupta, Rohan Prem, Bavanaka Sandeep, Chama Milind, Jalaj Saxena, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier, Akash Bhandari