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Focus on fitness on day one of camp

Principal Correspondent

— Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

TROOPING IN: M.S. Dhoni leads Praveen Kumar, Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik on to the ground at the Chinnaswamy stadium on Thursday.

Bangalore: Team India’s support staff spent a large part of the cricket camp’s first day, focussing on fitness as M.S. Dhoni’s men stretched their sinews all through Thursday.

After a morning session at the team hotel, the players trooped into the Chinnaswamy Stadium in the afternoon with the quartet of skipper M.S. Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik and Praveen Kumar getting in first.

Later as more players walked in, Yuvraj Singh touched the turf in a sign of reverence before striding towards the National Cricket Academy (NCA) while Sachin Tendulkar and Ashish Nehra walked in together.

Once all the players settled inside the academy, the cricketers had an extended round of fitness assessments including the ‘beep’ test while newly appointed trainer Ramji Srinivasan joined the support staff led by coaches Gary Kirsten, Paddy Upton (mental conditioning), Venkatesh Prasad (bowling) and Robin Singh (fielding).

The players also caught up with Virender Sehwag who is undergoing a rehabilitation stint for his injured right shoulder at the academy. Later a few players also indulged in some badminton at the courts adjacent to the NCA.

The 15-member squad will focus on fielding and core cricket skills through scheduled nets at the Chinnaswamy Stadium as well as at the KSCA (B) Ground on Friday. The camp will conclude on August 30.

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