Legends of Sports

The Indians won their third straight practice fixture ahead of the limited-overs leg of the England tour, beating Leicestershire Foxes by 15 runs in a Twenty20 fixture at Grace Road. Seamer Vinay Kumar’s spell of three for 29 in four overs helped the Indians restrict the domestic T20 champions to 146 for seven after the visitors had scored 161 for five.

Indian openers Parthiv Patel (40) and Ajinkya Rahane (19) put on 52 in 5.4 overs. Parthiv’s 31-ball effort included six boundaries. Rohit Sharma (29) and Suresh Raina (21) gave the innings further impetus at the finish, with Raina clearing the ropes thrice and Rohit hitting sixes off successive deliveries to take the score past 150. Their partnership of 34 came in just 3.4 overs. In between, Rahul Dravid scored 29.

Vinay took two of the next three wickets, and spinners. But some late hitting from Abdul Razzaq kept Leicestershire in the game, and they required 43 from the last three overs. Praveen, whose first three overs only went for 16, conceded 10 from his final over. But Razzaq was caught in the deep in the penultimate over, bowled by Ashwin, falling for a 24-ball 37. When Vinay began the final over, he only conceded nine and took the wicket of Jacques du Toit.

Brief scores: India: 161/5 in 20 overs (Parthiv Patel 40; Rahul Dravid 29, Rohit Sharma 29; Joshua Cobb 2/22); Leicestershire 146/7 in 20 overs (A McDonald 44; Abdul Razzaq 37; R Vinay Kumar 3/29, Amit Mishra 2/19).