London: India were made to sweat by Essex who reached 237-5 on the second day of their tour match at Chelmsford on Thursday with their discomfort under sweltering sunshine compounded by fears over the fitness of key spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
Virat Kohli’s team, playing their only warm-up match before the Test series against England gets under way next Wednesday, were dismissed for 395 after resuming on 322-6.
The home team then reached 237-5 at stumps after half-centuries from Tom Westley (57) and Michael Pepper (68).
Off-spinner Ashwin has played no part — with just one day remaining on Friday — after taking a knock to the right hand during practice.
Dinesh Karthik top-scored with 82 for India having failed to add to his overnight score while Hardik Pandya hit 51.
On Wednesday, Kohli scored 68 while KL Rahul (58) and Murali Vijay (53) also spent time in the middle.
Agence France-Presse