pepper
Michael-Kyle Pepper made 68. Photo Credit: Twitter/Essex

Indian bowlers had to tough it out in the second and third sessions on a hot and humid day two of their only tour match ahead of the England Test series against Essex at Chelmsford, with the hosts scoring 237 for five in reply to India s first innings score of 395.

AS IT HAPPENED: India vs Essex, Day 2

Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav picked two wickets each while Essex skipper Tom Westley led the charge with the bat scoring 57. 20-year-old Michael-Kyle Pepper found the boundary line 15 times during his enterprising knock of 68 off 74 deliveries as the duo combined for a 90-run stand for the fourth wicket.

After India were bowled out for 395, adding 73 runs to their overnight total – in the process losing four wickets in 16.2 overs, the pacers removed Essex openers Nick Browne (11) and Varun Chopra (16) early, but were met with stern resistance from Westley and Pepper.

Shardul Thakur had one wicket to show for his efforts while Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja bowled 25 overs between then without any success.

Late in the day, Essex s 38-year-old wicketkeeper batsman James Foster – who made his Test debut against India in Mohali way back in 2001, combined with Paul Walter for an unbeaten 41-run stand for the sixth wicket.

Earlier in the day, Dinesh Karthik, resuming on overnight score of 82, got out off the first ball of the day after he cut a short and wide delivery towards third man where Matt Dixon took a diving catch. Next man in, Karun Nair, could only last 12 deliveries before he played one on to his stumps to depart for four.

Pandya got to his half-century off 81 deliveries but became Walter s fourth victim of the innings the ball after. He made 51. Last man in Rishabh Pant hit his shots helping himself to six boundaries before Jadeja was picked up by Dixon for 15, signalling the end of the Indian innings.

Pacer Walter finished with four wickets while Matt Coles managed two. Matthew Quinn, Aaron Beard, Dixon and Aron Nijjar chipped in with one wicket apiece.

Brief Scores: Essex 237/5 (Michael-Kyle Pepper 68, Tom Westley 57; Umesh Yadav 2/23) trail India 395 (Dinesh Karthik 82, Virat Kohli 68; Paul Walter 4/112) by 157 runs