GEORGETOWN (Guyana), April 6: Spinner Harbhajan Singh got India’s tour off to a fine start as he took four wickets to help skittle a Guyana President’s line-up for 118 on the opening day of the tour.

In reply, India were 73 for two by the close, with captain Saurav Ganguly 40 not out having just been joined by Sachin Tendulkar.

Around 3,000 people turned up at the Everest Sports Club Ground in Georgetown, most to see Tendulkar, but he only had time to score three before the end of play.

India, fielding an almost test-strength side for the three-day game, began impressively after losing the toss, taking two wickets in the first two overs, with Andrew Gonzalves dismissed for a golden duck by Javagal Srinath.

Off-spinner Singh finished with four for 37 from 19 overs including the wickets of opener Krishna Arjune, who fell to one of Shiv Sundar Das’s three catches, and Damadar Dasrat, also caught by Das at forward short leg.

Scoreboard

GUYANA PRESIDENT’S XI (1st innings)

A.Gonzalves c Dasgupta b Srinath 0

K.Arjune c Das b Singh 25

N.Deonarine c Laxman b Khan 4

T.Dowling c Das b Kumble 11

D.Dasrat c Das b Singh 0

H.Pooran c Dasgupta b Khan 41

V.Nagamootoo b Srinath 10

K.Basil c Kumble b Singh 12

R.Thomas lbw Kumble 1

R.Griffith c Tendulkar b Singh 5

H.Harinarine not out 5

EXTRAS (3nb 1lb) 4

TOTAL (all out) 118

FALL OF WKTS: 1-0 2-5 3-25 4-57 5-57 6-79 7-99 8-105 9-112

BOWLING: Srinath 10-2-20-2, Khan 10-3-22-2, Kumble 14.3-7-28-2, Bangar 8-5-8-0, Singh 19-5-37-4, Tendulkar 1-0-2-0

INDIA (1st innings)

D.Dasgupta run out 6

S.Das c Nagamootoo b Dasrat 20

S.Ganguly not out 40

S.Tendulkar not out 3

EXTRAS (1nb 3lb) 4

TOTAL (for two wickets) 73

FALL OF WKTS: 1-18 2-42

TO BAT: V.Laxman, R.Dravid, A.Kumble, J.Srinath, H.Singh, Z.Khan, S.Bangar

BOWLING: Grittith 7-1-24-0, Thomas 9-4-28-0, Dasrat 7-1-12-1, Basil 3-1-6-0, Harinarine 1-1-0-0—Reuters

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