Sport

Team India has staggered nets

Colombo: For a tour that has been blighted by injury — V.V.S. Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Ishant Sharma and Virender Sehwag, the men hexed on the field, either in match-play or in practice — Friday was particularly good, on two counts.

For one — and this is stated at the cost of jinxing it — nobody stepped on a ball or was hit by a stroke gone astray, as India trained at the practice facilities of the R. Premadasa Stadium, the venue for the three remaining (day-night) ODIs in the five-match series.

For another, Gautam Gambhir, who missed the second ODI after waking up with a stiff neck, was present, and appeared in fine fettle.

The left-handed opener was part of the first group of India’s staggered nets. Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Parthiv Patel, R.P. Singh, and Praveen Kumar had a spot of fielding before grooving their games in the nets.

Organised into enclosures for pace-bowling, spin-bowling, and throw-downs — as it has all tour — the nets were supervised by coach Gary Kirsten, bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad and fielding coach Robin Singh.

Gambhir, who was troubled by Praveen’s whippy bowling in the pace net, indulged in a session of comfort throw-downs with Robin, training the drive along the carpet and the lofted stroke. The 26-year-old’s emphasis was on maintaining his shape — on not allowing the bottom-hand and therefore the left-side of his body to take control.

Gambhir practised stepping down the track to the spinners, and although he missed twice on Friday, it’s a ploy he used to great effect in the Test series. His early dismissal in the first game and his absence during the second deprived India of his assured touch against the spinners.

It’s vital for the touring side that Gambhir survives the new ball here, for his ability to both work it around and find the boundary is priceless on tracks expected to be difficult for scoring.

M.S. Dhoni, Suresh Raina, S. Badrinath, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel and Pragyan Ojha comprised the second group (Yuvraj Singh missed the session). They followed a similar routine, although Raina and Badrinath were back for seconds.

Ojha and Badrinath engaged in simulation, the bowler listing his field, and the batsman trying to beat it: it’s an activity undertaken in every net session; this particular contest was merely the most interesting.

The left-arm spinner beat Badrinath in flight on a couple of occasions, but the batsman responded with a sweetly struck on-drive, and a cut off the short ball that followed.

“It is a different ground and it will be a different atmosphere,” said Ojha, who is in the reckoning for the third ODI after being dropped for the second. “What I’ve heard is this wicket plays a little slow, and it helps spinners. Obviously as a player, I look forward to playing on any wicket.

“Being dropped in the second ODI was just about the combination of the team. I am prepared to give my best (here).”

Ojha hasn’t captured the imagination in his two outings on tour (the practice game and the first ODI), but has shown promise. He has been prepared to flight the ball and his arm-ball has caught at least one Sri Lankan batsman by surprise.

Zaheer and Praveen set up the three-wicket win in the second ODI, but from the look of things here at the Premadasa, the prospective 20 overs between Ojha and Harbhajan Singh appear crucial.

India’s preparation through the tour has been thorough; the freakish abilities of Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan have stymied the touring side, but there’s no replicating either in practice — videos help, but only up to a point. Nevertheless, Kirsten, Prasad, and Robin have worked hard with the squad, even at times when there has appeared little point in practising.

That is why the fact that Sri Lanka practised under lights on Friday while India has no such session scheduled before Sunday’s third ODI is puzzling. It can be argued that these are cricketers who have played enough at night, particularly with the IPL, but different surfaces behave differently under lights, and it doesn’t hurt to be forewarned.

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