India, Essex match drawn

Chelmsford: India played out a draw against Essex in the three-day warm-up game at the County ground here on Friday.

India batsmen gained good practice in the middle ahead of the high-octane five-match Test rubber against hosts England, starting August 1 in Birmingham. 

In reply to India's first inning score of 395, Essex rode on Paul Walter's 75 and Michael-Kyle Pepper's 68 to pile 359/8.

For India, Umesh Yadav returned impressive figures of 4/35 while Ishant Sharma scalped three wickets conceding 59 runs. 

Brief scores: India 395 and 89/2 (KL Rahul 36no) vs Essex 359/8 (Paul Walter 75, Michael-Kyle Pepper 68; Umesh Yadav 4/35).