Jaffer, Laxman, Kaif, Dhoni hit half centuries in practice match

St. John's, Antigua, Jun 1 (UNI) The quartet of Wasim Jaffer, VVS Laxman, Mohd Kaif and Mahendra Singh Dhoni slammed half centuries as India got some good batting practice against the Antigua and Berbuda XI in the two-day warm up match here.

Team India bowlers were far from impressive against the local side which raised 300 in their first innings but the batsmen scored 311 for nine wickets to show that they are back in the groove again, which should come as a relief to the team think-tank before the first Test against the West Indies starting tomorrow.

Overnight batsmen Jaffer (52) and Laxman (72) hit some beautiful drives to set the tone for the day.

Jaffer looked fluent throughout his innings and was unfortunate to get caught up in a mix up and was run out for 52. His innigs contained nine boundaries. Laxman also looked in nice nick as he sauntered to his polished score of 72 from 122 balls with nine hits to the fence before falling to Athanaze.

Kaif and Dhoni produced scintillating half centuries in the latter part of the day as India easily erased the lead.

Kaif retired at 53 off 127 balls with five fours, while Dhoni played a typical unbeaten 78-ball knock of 60 with eight fours and a six in it.

Virender Sehwag (5), Rahul Dravid (5), Suresh Raina (4), Yuvraj Singh (20) and Irfan Pathan (12) could not make the most of the opportunity and fell tamely.

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