Close Central Districts 69 for 1 (Spearman 40*) trail Indian XI 209 all out (Ganguly 48, Tendulkar 44) by 140 runs
Scorecard

India's much-vaunted batting line-up crumbled under testing conditions in their tour opener at McLean Park. Put in to bat by Central Districts in conditions which afforded generous seam movement – especially in the morning session – India were bowled out for a paltry 209. By close of play, Central Districts had already reduced the deficit to 140 runs, losing only one wicket.

It wasn't quite as bad as their tour match in 1998-99, when they were bowled out for 103, but the fact that none of the batsmen managed even a half-century would concern the Indian think-tank. Sourav Ganguly (48) and Sachin Tendulkar (44) came closest, but the rest of the batsmen – including Rahul Dravid, out for a second-ball duck – never came to grips with the conditions. It would have been even worse if Central Districts had held their catches – four of them were put down, including Ganguly's when he was on 2.

The Indian openers started circumspectly, playing out three maiden overs, before Virender Sehwag creamed two fours square on the off side in customary fashion off Lance Hamilton's left-arm seamers. All hopes of a blistering run-fest were quickly scotched though, when Sehwag (12) lashed out at an away-going delivery from Michael Mason, and edged to third slip (20 for 1).

Two balls later, Dravid was trudging back, nicking one in the corridor. Sanjay Bangar fought on, but was hardly convincingly in his 77-ball 17, offering two chances in the slips.

The only batsman who looked assured from the start was Tendulkar. Driving with his customary fluency, he stroked six fours in his knock before dragging a widish delivery from Hamilton on to his stumps just before lunch (84 for 4).

The pitch eased a bit after the break, and Ganguly overcame a circumspect start – when he was peppered by some short stuff and dropped at gully – to ease into some flowing strokes on the off side. He finally gave it away when he had only the tail for company, and though Harbhajan Singh played a familiar entertaining knock, India's total was far below expectations.

To rub it in, Central Districts scored their runs at more than three-and-a-half an over, as the Indian attack sprayed it all over the place. Ashish Nehra nailed Peter Ingram for 10 (16 for 1), but that was hardly any consolation for a day which went very wrong for the Indians.

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