Indians draw tour match at Chelmsford

The match between Essex and the Indian tourists petered out into a draw at Chelmsford, after Essex were set an academic 565 runs to win it.

India lost four wickets as they took their overnight total of 231 for two to 327 before declaring. VVS Laxman made 42 (one six, five fours) and Harbhajan Singh provided another entertaining cameo, with 29 off 21 balls (one six, four fours) before Sourav Ganguly finally closed the innings.

The Essex batsmen settled for practice in reply. James Middlebrook fell to Harbhajan for 24, but Richard Clinton (53) and Ravinder Bopara (47*) hung around as the game meandered towards its inevitable conclusion.

Virender Sehwag was given the longest bowl of the innings, taking the wickets of Clinton and Jon Dakin for 52 runs in 18 overs.