BBC SPORT | Cricket | India struggle in tour opener

Tour match, Napier, day one of three: India 209 all out; Central Districts 69-1 (at close)

India have plenty of work to do to avoid a repeat of their seven-wicket defeat by Central Districts on their 1998-99 tour to New Zealand after a disappointing batting display.

Captain Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar were India's top scorers with 48 and 44 but wickets fell at regular intervals on a pitch offering pace and bounce to the seamers.

There's no need to panic and I'm confident we'll settle down before the Test

India's Sourav Ganguly

Michael Mason and Andrew Schwass claimed three wickets each and there were four catches for wicket-keeper Martyn Sigley.

The home side then made a positive start to their reply with former Test opener Craig Spearman reaching 40 not out by the close.

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India chose to field a near full strength line-up for their only warm-up fixture before the first Test, with left-arm pace bowler Zaheer Khan the only significant absentee,

But they were put in after Ganguly lost the toss and slipped to 20 for two as Mason removed Virender Sehwag (12) and Rahul Dravid in the space of three deliveries.

Schwass dismissed Ajit Agarkar second ball
Schwass made good use of the conditions

Sanjay Bangar (21) resisted for an hour and three quarters before becoming Schwass' first victim and Tendulkar was next to go when he was bowled by left-armer Lance Hamilton.

VVS Laxman, Parthiv Patel and Ajit Agarkar all failed and when Ganguly was caught behind off Mason, they were in danger of being bowled out for under 200.

But Harbhajan Singh (29) and Asish Nehra (14) put on 37 for the ninth wicket before both were dismissed by spinner Glenn Sulzberger to bring the innings to a close.

"On a pitch like this, with plenty of grass, you've got to play straight first up. Their batsmen went at the ball a little bit too much," said Central Districts coach Mark Greatbatch.

Central Districts: PJ Ingram, CM Spearman (captain), MS Sinclair, GP Sulzberger, JM How, BBJ Griggs, MA Sigley, AM Schwass, MJ Mason, BE Hefford, LJ Hamilton.

India: SC Ganguly (captain), V Sehwag, R Dravid, SB Bangar, SR Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, PA Patel, AB Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, A Nehra, A Ratra, T Yohannan.


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