Sport - Cricket

Showers curtail training schedules

Bangalore: Afternoon showers curtailed the training schedules of the India ‘A’ and Australia `A’ teams at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Sunday. Earlier in the morning both the teams had a stint of nets and fielding drills before the rains that swept across the stadium just before noon, forced the players to return to their rooms.

The Simon Katich-led Australia ‘A’ team was present at full strength while the Indian squad still awaits five players to join its ranks ranging from skipper S. Badrinath to Virat Kohli. The Indian camp is expected to gather steam from Monday.

Badrinath, who just returned from the ODI series in Sri Lanka, will join his team-mates here on Monday morning. Vice-captain Parthiv Patel, who was part of the Indian Test and ODI squads in Sri Lanka, has been given time till Monday evening by the coaching staff led by Dav Whatmore.

Meanwhile Virat Kohli, who stepped in as a last-minute replacement for injured Shikhar Dhawan, will be present on Monday and will be joined by Mohammad Kaif and Robin Uthappa, who were given a day’s break on Sunday as they had just come in straight after playing the KSCA All India invitation tournament.

India ‘A’ and Australia ‘A’ will clash in a three-day game that commences here on September 3 before shifting base to Hyderabad.

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