Former under-19 stars. Left-handed batsmen. Exciting characters on and off the field. Not to mention, a heavy north Indian accent. Yuvraj Singh and Shikhar Dhawan have a lot in common. The duo, reunited in the India A dressing room, trained together at the Brabourne Stadium on Sunday.
All through their extensive net session (for almost 90 minutes), Yuvraj and Dhawan batted as flawlessly as any batsman of their skills would against local net bowlers. They appeared to be getting into the groove for Tuesday's warm-up match against the touring Englishmen.
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No doubt Mahendra Singh Dhoni, making his maiden appearance on the field after handing over captaincy to Virat Kohli, will hog the limelight during the warm-up match, and possibly throughout the limited overs series. But Yuvraj and Dhawan's performances will be closely monitored. After all, both were not really in the reckoning for the series.
Yuvraj scored a heap of runs in the first half of the Ranji Trophy season before taking a break for his wedding. In fact, his tally of 672 runs in just eight innings is his most in a Ranji season ever since his debut in 1996-97. Still, his subdued performances during last year's World Twenty20, where he tallied 52 runs in four matches, seemed like ending his eventful and courageous journey in international cricket.
Dhawan, on the other hand, had been going through a lean patch for virtually the whole of 2016 before being sidelined after an injury during the second Test against New Zealand in October. With K. L. Rahul having impressed across formats, Dhawan was far from being assured of a place in the limited overs squad. But the selectors have given him an opportunity in ODIs albeit excluding him from T20Is. Rohit Sharma's unavailablity because of a thigh injury has also helped Dhawan's selection.
Yuvraj bowled to Dhawan towards the end. The duo seemed at peace. They would be hoping to set Brabourne on fire on Tuesday, though.
ROOT TO JOIN BEFORE SERIES OPENER
Joe Root is at home, expecting the birth of his first child. The stylish batsman is likely to join the squad in Mumbai on Thursday, a day before it leaves for Pune.
He was the only member missing from England's training session at Brabourne on Sunday. The squad slogged it out for over three hours, with spin bowling consultant Saqlain Mushtaq, the former Pakistan tweaker, spending a lot of time with England spinners.
Later in the day, captain Eoin Morgan and wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler attended a promotional event at a mall in Malad.
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