The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Team practises hard and true

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 15, 2007
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Sport - Cricket

Team practises hard and true

Principal Correspondent

Sourav Ganguly has a minor mishap; Prasad assures that Zaheer is fine

— Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN! Robin Uthappa tries to avoid Rohit Sharma's lunge, as Yuvraj Singh watches, during another day of intense practice on Thursday.

BANGALORE: Match simulation and fielding drills reigned at the Chinnaswamy Stadium as the Indian team bound for the one-dayers in Ireland practised hard in their cricket-skills camp here on Thursday.

In the morning, they had an open nets-session in which match conditions were simulated.

The players practised on the centre square with the batsmen operating in pairs ranging from the left-handed combine of Sourav Ganguly and Gautam Gambhir to the middle-order duo of skipper Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar.

All the players had a hit in the open nets and faced all the frontline bowlers with the exception of Zaheer Khan, who did not bowl and continued with his sprints and sessions in the gym.

According to the team-management, there is no cause for concern over Zaheer's fitness.

"Zaheer is fine," said bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad about the Indian seamer who is recovering from a muscle strain that he picked up in the Afro Asia Cup matches in Chennai.

Later the players had some fielding drills, practising pick-up and throws besides fine-tuning their hand-eye co-ordination. And as the players trooped into the NCA for their lunch break, Dinesh Karthik stayed back in the middle and played a few mock-shots, checked his bat swing and later made a nets bowler pitch it on a length, a shade outside the off-stump and practised his lofted drive over long-off.

He also kept driving straight down the carpet and kept repeating the routine for a long time before running into the NCA. In the afternoon, the players had extensive fielding drills, indulging in high-catches besides attempting to rifle down a single stump.

Fielding coach Robin Singh along with Venkatesh Prasad and trainer Gregory King ensured that all the players were on their toes.

Losing his balance

While the fielding drills were in progress, Sourav Ganguly, walking towards the nets, heard the scream `watch it' from the other fielders as a mistimed hit cannoned towards him, the former skipper scampered hard, lost his balance and fell.

He held on to his left ankle and was in distress. Yuvraj Singh, standing nearby, yelled for physio John Gloster, who rushed in with his ice-pack. After some time, Ganguly got back on his feet, walked gingerly, rested for a while and then participated in the fielding drills without any hindrance.

The full quota of 15 players participated in the camp after the opening day's missing six — Ganguly, Yuvraj, M.S. Dhoni, R.P. Singh, Ramesh Powar and Piyush Chawla — joined the other players in the morning. The camp will conclude on Saturday afternoon.

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