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India's Skipper Rahul Dravid spent some valuable time in the middle ahead of the final Test at Lord's by scoring a neat half century. Two other batsmen - Gautam Gambhir and Sri Lanka 'A' opener Michael Vandort also notched up half centuries on the second day at Leicester to star in a batsmen's day.

Indians declared their innings after batting for just 68 overs allowing their opponents a lead of 28. Indians declared at 238 for 5 with Gautam Gambhir scoring 67 (from 135 balls with 7 fours) and Rahul Dravid also the same score (from 105 balls with 6 fours). Gambhir was asked to retire hurt by the team management while Dravid's innings was unfinished when he had decided to declare the innings. The other batsman who had done anything significant today was opener Wasim Jaffer making 48 after batting for more than two hours. The disappointment of the day were MS Dhoni and VVS Laxman who were dismissed for 0 and 14 respectively.

Sri Lanka 'A' consolidated after the early loss of Mahela Udawatte, who got out to the first ball bowled by Ishant Sharma in his opening spell. For the rest of the day, it was all about Vandort and Dilruwan Perera as they kept the Indian bowlers at bay to take the lead to 140 with one more day left in this match. Vandort has got 61 from 111 balls with 8 fours and Perera has got to 48 from 86 with 10 fours. Ranadeb Bose failed to create an impact this time around to be taken for 42 runs in his 8 overs. 

Brief Scores : Sri Lanka A first innings 266 all out in 76.2 Overs (Samaraweera 75 Vandort 52 Lokuarachchi 35 Perera 34 Dammika Prasad 23, Ranadeb Bose 5/51 Ramesh Powar 4/85 Ishant Sharma 1/57) & second innings 112/1 in 33 Overs (Vandort 61* Perera 48* Ishant Sharma 1/23) Vs Indians first innings 238 for 5 declared in 68 Overs (Dravid 67* Gambhir 67 retd hurt Jaffer 48 Yuvraj 15* Laxman 14, Dammika Prasad 2/71 Rangana Herath 2/62)

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