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Virat Kohli turned out to be the highlight of Day 3 of warm-up game between the Indian side and Leicestershire. Kohli returned to form with a 67-run knock batting lower down the order in the second innings as India took a 366-run lead against the hosts.
Saini, Nagarkoti shine
Starting at an overnight score of 80/1, India lost Hanuma Vihari (20) early in the day. Promoted up the order, Srikar Bharat missed his second half-century in the innings. Navdeep Saini sent him back to the pavillion for a score of 43. Then, Saini got rid of Ravindra Jadeja for a two-ball duck. Kamlesh Nagarkoti joined the party as well with the wicket of Shreyas Iyer.
Kohli hits fifty
Kohli joined Shardul Thakur in the middle when the score read 164/5. Batting at no.7, Kohli stabilised the innings with Thakur with a 39-run partnership for the sixth wicket. Kohli looked in good form and hit Jasprit Bumrah for a six square of the wicket on the off side. After Thakur (28) got bowled by Nagarkoti, Cheteshwar Pujara came out to bat. Pujara batted for Leicestershire in the previous innings. Meanwhile, Kohli reached his half-century.
Bizarre series of events
Pujara got stumped out against Indian left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore. However, strange series of events followed as Jadeja walked out to bat again. Then, early in the third session after Kohli's wicket, Shreyas walked out to bat as well. The two Indian batters batted twice in India’s innings of the warm-up clash.
When Kohli got out, India were 275/8. The second chance partnership between Jadeja and Shreyas helped India cross the 350-mark. While Shreyas got out to Nagarkoti for a combined score of 62, Jadeja remained unbeaten for 77-ball 56.
The burning question
While two of Indian batters twice in the innings and one batted for both sides in the warm-up game, skipper Rohit Sharma did not come out to bat at all on Day 3. However, there is a possibility that he may walk out to bat for the opposition on Day 4 given the series of events on Day 3.
