For nearly 30 minutes, KL Rahul only practised sweeps, reverse sweeps and slog hits in the side nets, and Shreyas Iyer faced a barrage of short balls during India’s training session on Thursday ahead of the opening game against Australia here at MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Taking throwdowns — twice within a gap of 15 minutes — Rahul only looked to play attacking shots, often forcing the bowlers to take evasive actions to avoid any scares.
For Iyer, the session was more focused on his ability to control short balls.
After a regular hit in the nets, he sat down for a 15-minute break and played with the dog who had casually entered the training area, before getting back to work on his pull and hook shots with Dravid using a racquet and a few tennis balls to simulate steep bounce.
READ MORE: ICC World Cup 2023: ENG vs NZ head-to-head record; England vs New Zealand stats, most runs, wickets
Post his second break, Iyer again padded up to face throwdown specialists Raghu (right-arm), Dayanand Garani (right-arm), and Nuwan Seneviratne (left-arm) for a quick hit before finally packing up.
The intensity was high among all the batters despite the torrid hot conditions during the afternoon training session, which lasted nearly three-and-a-half hours.
India’s Shreyas Iyer pats a dog during a practice session at M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk in Chennai on Thursday, ahead of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 match between India and Australia. | Photo Credit: B.Jothi Ramalingam / The Hindu
R Ashwin was the first to enter the nets, and batted alongside Jasprit Bumrah for nearly 20 minutes, exchanging the position every five minutes. While the fast bowler focused more on timing the ball, facing the net bowlers, Ashwin looked to hit the ball hard right from the beginning.
The bowlers, on the other hand, were trying to preserve their energy and only had a short burst of full-intensity bowling. It seemed like the fast bowlers were trying to bowl the defensive hard lengths while operating with the semi-new Kookaburra ball.
READ MORE: If we beat India and not win the World Cup, it will be a failure, says Pakistan’s Agha Salman
Bowling coach Paras Mhambrey was constantly talking to the fast bowlers Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj, and Hardik Pandya as they tried to challenge the batters with match simulation field settings. While Iyer was challenged with mid-on and mid-off up, Pandya, when he came into bat, was challenged with both long-on and long-off at the boundary.
Indian players were wearing a new orange-coloured training kit during the session which ended with Pandya having a hit along with Shardul Thakur and Kuldeep Yadav in adjacent nets.
Comments
SHARE