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Indians train at NCA

Principal Correspondent

— Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

READY FOR BATTLE: Australian players Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden arrive at a hotel in Bangalore.

Bangalore: Bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad spoke to the groundstaff to ensure that the nets were in place, trudged to the centre and had a look at the pitch.

He had a few words with curator Narayan Raju and the New Zealand pitch expert Phillips and just as it was all set for the Indian team’s Monday afternoon practice session in the run-up to the first Test against Australia here from October 9, the skies darkened and the rains eased in.

Coach Gary Kirsten, skipper Anil Kumble and others watched the rains from the pavilion and it looked as though the players would be forced to stay indoors and mumble about the weather.

However, the support staff swung in with their contingency plan and the cricketers were asked to train inside the National Cricket Academy.

The players immediately shifted base and had a long stint on the freshly laid turf pitches inside the NCA indoor nets.

In between Virender Sehwag, M.S. Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir stretched their limbs with a spot of badminton.

The entire squad with the exception of Sourav Ganguly, R.P. Singh and Amit Mishra, was present during the training stint. Ganguly, R.P. Singh and Mishra, who were in Chennai, joined the team later on Monday night.

Meanwhile the Australian team led by Ricky Ponting arrived late in the evening and is scheduled to train on Tuesday morning.

The Indians will practise again on Tuesday afternoon.

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