{
    "id": "32378",
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    "title": "Pujara wages lone battle as India totter at 74\/5 at lunch",
    "lang": "en",
    "series": "320",
    "cup_year": "2017",
    "article_type": "General",
    "excerpt": "Kolkata, Nov 17 - Chesteshwar Pujara was three short of his 16th half century as India were further reduced to 74\/5 at lunch on Day Two of the first Test at the Eden Gardens here on Friday. Lunch had to be",
    "subtype": "",
    "editor1": "<p>Kolkata, Nov 17 -&nbsp;Chesteshwar Pujara was three short of his 16th half century as India were further reduced to 74\/5 at lunch on Day Two of the first Test at the Eden Gardens here on Friday.<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nLunch had to be called early due to rain interrupting play half an hour before the break.<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nPujara (47 off 102; 4x9) held fort at one end beginning the day on eight runs, while the other overnight batsman Ajinkya Rahane (4 off 21; 1x4) failed to get going falling to Dasun Shanaka (2\/23) playing a poor shot as 21 overs were bowled in the first session.<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nAshwin (4 off 21) was also guilty of a naive drive as India failed to recover from their overnight score of 17\/3.<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nSuranga Lakmal, who returned magnificent figures of 6-6-0-3 on the rain-affected first day, conceded his first runs after 46 deliveries off the bat of Rahane, who three overs later fell prey to Shanaka.<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nLakmal still had great figures to show for, leaking just five runs in 11 overs bowling nine maidens and taking three wickets.<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nOn the first day, Lakmal accounted for openers K.L. Rahul (0), Shikhar Dhawan (8) and skipper Virat Kohli (0) in a dream spell of swing bowling on a green top.<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nComing to Day two, a tempted delivery outside the off-stump took a thin edge off Rahane&#39;s bat to wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella as he tried to aimlessly drive through covers.<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nAt 30\/4, the hosts were in a spot of bother with Pujara finding himself alone in the middle tasked to bail the team out.<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nThe in-form Saurashtra man played two exquisite off drives to Shanaka before taking on the same bowler few overs later for another four.<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nPujara looked supreme on the off side, hitting Shanaka and Lahiru Gamage for two more boundaries past mid-off area.<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nHe was equally comfortable on the backfoot, punching a short and wide Karu.<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nWhile bowling-allrounder R. Ashwin struggled to settle in, taking a knock on his hand in the 25th over off Lahiru Gamage&#39;s bowling before ending his ordeal in the next over. Gamage remained wicketless with figures of 11.5-3-24-0.<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nTrying to drive a length Shanaka delivery, the right-hander, returning to international cricket after three months, gave an easy catch to Dimuth Karunaratne at backward point.<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nIn came Wriddhiman Saha who also looked uncomfortable with the extra bounce on the wicket, going into the break unbeaten on 6 from 22 balls.<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\n<strong>Brief Scores<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>India (Overnight: 17\/3) 74\/5 (Cheteshwar Pujara 47; Suranga Lakmal (3-5)<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cricketnmore.com\/cricket-livescore\/full-scorecard\/2340\/1st-test-india-v-sri-lanka-1\">Full Scorecard<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n<p>IANS<\/p>\r\n",
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    "alt_img": "India vs SL",
    "alt_title": "first Test at eden gardens",
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    "seo_title": "Pujara wages lone battle as India totter at 74\/5 at lunch",
    "seo_desc": "India vs Sri Lanka First Test Day 2 Lunch report on Cricketnmore.com",
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    "created": "2017-11-17 11:50:16",
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