Cheteshwar Pujara struck his second successive half-century of the tour as India reached 217 for five at tea on the second day of the practice game against Derbyshire ahead of the five-Test series against England on Wednesday.
Pujara continued his rich form and scored 81 runs off 131 balls with the help of 13 fours before retiring to give other batsmen match practice.
India accumulated their runs in 62 overs. At the post-lunch break, Ravindra Jadeja (14 not out) and Stuart Binny (3 not out) were at the crease with the former having been dropped on zero.
Among prominent batsmen, Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma are yet to bat in this innings.
Pujara and Virat Kohli (36) carried on after lunch, but were able to add only five runs to their partnership when the latter was bowled.
Kohli played on a delivery from Ben Cotton (2/20) who picked up his second wicket of the innings. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni then walked in to bat, having not had a hit in the middle so far, after sitting out in the first innings at Leicester.
The Indian skipper made good use of the placid conditions and played some attacking shots, scoring 46 runs off 56 balls, hitting foue boundaries and one six. He perished in the same manner, charging spinner David Wainwright (1/40), only to be bowled.
–PTI