Derbyshire vs. India: Tour Match Day 3 News, Highlights, Scorecard, Report

India completed their preparations for next week's first Test with England after beating  Derbyshire by five wickets on the final day of their last warm-up fixture on Thursday.

Both sides had already agreed to evenly split the third day so that the tourists could enjoy 45 overs of both batting and bowling in front of what turned out to be a sparse crowd at the County Ground.

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and coach Duncan Fletcher will ultimately have been pleased with what they got out of their three days in Derby.

In particular, Dhoni will have been relieved that experienced fast bowler Ishant Sharma—who is expected to be handed the responsibility of taking the new ball at Trent Bridge next Thursday—appeared in much better rhythm than on the first day, when he was bedevilled by no-ball problems, as the lanky paceman delivered seven overs at a cost of just 10 runs.

India actually made the perfect start to the morning session when Bhuvneshwar Kumar had Derbyshire opener Ben Slater caught by Murali Vijay at second slip in just the third over of the day to leave Derbyshire none for one, Dhoni having declared overnight 15 runs ahead of the home side.

			Runs	Minutes	Balls	4s	6s
Slater	c Vijay	b B Kumar	0	10	8	0	0
Borrington	lbw	b Shami	29	138	102	1	0
C Hughes	c Dhoni	b Binny	20	57	41	4	0
Godleman	not out		56	107	86	7	0
A Hughes	not out		36	38	36	5	0
Extras	3nb 0w 10b 2lb		15
Total	for 3 (45.0 ovs)		156

Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
B Kumar	6.0	3	5	1
Shami	11.0	2	39	1
I Sharma	7.0	1	10	0
Binny	6.0	2	17	1
Jadeja	4.0	1	7	0
Vijay	6.0	0	29	0
Ashwin	5.0	0	37	0

Fall of Wicket
0	Slater
32	C Hughes
78	Borrington
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			Runs	Minutes	Balls	4s	6s
Vijay	retd out		41	77	53	8	0
Dhawan	lbw	b Higginbottom	9	13	10	2	0
Rahane	retd out		39	81	65	6	0
Ro Sharma	c Durston	b Wainwright	10	26	19	2	0
Saha	c Cotton	b Cork	19	36	43	1	0
Gambhir	not out		21	32	27	2	0
Jadeja	not out		0	4	2	0	0
Extras	0nb 1w 2b 1lb		4
Total	for 5 (36.3 ovs)		143

Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Cotton	5.0	1	22	0
Higginbottom	9.0	2	40	1
Turner	6.0	1	20	0
Wainwright	6.0	0	21	1
Cork	7.3	0	27	1
Durston	3.0	1	10	0

However, India managed to capture only two more wickets thereafter as middle-order batsman Billy Godleman made his second unbeaten half-century of the match before Derbyshire declared on 156 for three from their allotted 45 overs, with the 25-year-old 56 not out off 86 balls.

India therefore needed 142 runs to win from their 45 overs, which they achieved at a canter thanks to a breezy 41 off just 53 deliveries from Vijay at the top of the order, including eight fours, and 39 from No. 3 Ajinkya Rahane, with six boundary fours, before both men retired in order to give their team-mates some time in the middle.

And that even meant a knock for the previously unseen Gautam Gambhir, whose 21 not out coming in at No. 6 saw the tourists achieve their victory target with eight-and-a-half overs still left in their second innings.

Now all Dhoni and Fletcher need to do is settle on the makeup of their final XI for Nottingham.

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