Sport - Cricket

Open-wicket practice session for players

Bangalore: The accent was on sharpening the skill-sets as well as polishing away any remnant smudges of rust as the Indian players had an open-wicket practice session during their preparatory camp at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Wednesday. Bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad, mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton and fielding coach Robin Singh controlled the sessions as skipper Anil Kumble and coach Gary Kirsten were away in Mumbai for the selection committee meeting.

The batsmen operated in pairs against a mix of bowlers that featured both the Indian attack as well as Karnataka’s junior crop. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir padded up first and struck a watchful note against Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma while freeing their arms against the spinners.

Sehwag’s aggressive tempo manifested itself against Harbhajan as pulls and the slam over mid-off were in place. A bit of banter between the two added to the drama.

Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar stepped in next and though the batting tempo slipped a bit there was heartening signs for Prasad as his wards Zaheer, Ishant and Munaf Patel struck a nice rhythm against the accomplished duo.

Prasad also placed an extra stump a bit away from the off stump as the bowlers were encouraged to bowl all along the corridor. Dravid was all dogged resistance.

As the day wore on, V.V.S. Laxman, M.S. Dhoni and Mohammad Kaif were among the others who had a hit.

Laxman interestingly had a long stint with the bowling machine. The camp will conclude on Friday and the players will re-assemble here on October 6 for the first Test commencing on October 9.

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