Indians sweat it out ahead of Aussie test

Sehwag sits out of team training session at the Colts Cricket Club

After spending their Monday’s rest day shopping at a famous mall here, Indian cricketers were back sweating it out at the Colts Cricket Club on Tuesday.

Following their crushing 90-run win over England in their Group ‘B’ clash of World T20 on Sunday, the Indians had a spring in their steps as Bollywood hit numbers blared through iPod speakers and a sense of camaraderie prevailed in their camp. A win can do wonders, one might say, but a certain Virender Sehwag was the talking point, the opener hardly taking any part in the practice though he was very much present at the venue throughout the session.

After a warm-up session where he did some stretching, shuttle runs and a bout of mock boxing, the right-hander perched himself on a chair in the far corner of a make-shift tent, exchanging an occasional bantering with his team-mates and humming to the chart busters. If one were to read too much into the day’s proceedings, it’s mighty possible that Sehwag will remain out of the playing mix at least for a game or two in the Super Eights. The 33-year-old had opted out of practice on the eve of the England game and, on the day, preferred to sit back and enjoy the proceedings as a few interesting ‘experiments’ were held at the ‘nets’.

Random test

Harbhajan Singh, back in the swing of things after a man-of-the-match performance against England, neither bowled nor batted but he was one of the three Indian players to be randomly picked for collecting their urine samples by the anti-doping squad. R Ashwin and Sehwag were the other two. “It’s a routine procedure at every major ICC event and nothing more than that,” said Indian team’s media manager RN Baba to quieten some of the extra-curious eyes.

Ashwin, one of the players to be requested to rest for Sunday’s game against England along with Zaheer Khan and Sehwag so that a few others in the side can get a game before the second phase of the tournament, opened batting with Rohit Sharma occupying the adjacent net. The off-spinning all-rounder batted for a decent time before Irfan Pathan, who looked uncertain against Steven Finn while opening the innings against England, walked in next and had a lengthy session.

Zaheer Khan, meanwhile, went full tilt for about half an hour against Rohit, Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir and the paceman appeared determined to shed his indifferent form come Friday, when India take on Australia in their opening Super Eight clash.

Yuvraj Singh bowled for a brief stint but stayed away from batting while Irfan took a break from bowling. There was also minor injury scare when Kohli’s forceful drive ricocheted off a net pole and crashed into bowler Ashok Dinda’s right ankle. The paceman moved aside with a perceptible limp but soon resumed his bowling, allaying any major worries.

Gambhir and Raina, after regular ‘nets’, had a second stint with bowling coach John Dawes sending them throw downs in what appeared to a preparation to face the short-pitched stuff. The show, however, belonged to MS Dhoni. While rest of the Indian batsmen just about managed to clear the long boundary, the Indian skipper packed such a punch in his strokes that seven balls were lost as he blasted them out of the park, leaving the uninitiated awestruck and forcing a smile on the others. Not to be left too far behind, Manoj Tiwary showed his big-hitting prow-ess, launching the ball over the sightscreen on at least three occasions.