Published>Tue, Sep 28 10 06:52 AM
It must have been a trip down the memory lane for coach Davinder Arora as he stood behind the stumps watching Harbhajan Singh go through his practice routine. After all it was under Arora's tutelage that the off-spinner, now the mainstay of the Indian bowling attack, learnt his trade during his teen years.
Despite the presence of national coach Gary Kirsten and bowling coach Eric Simons, Arora got a free-hand with his former pupil at the PCA Stadium in Mohali on Monday morning. And he seemed to take full liberty, trying his best to correct the 30-year-old Harbhajan's pivot at the crease and release of the ball.
It wasn't only Harbhajan though who went through the rigours of training with just four days left for the first Test to begin. All seven members, including the spinner, present at the PCA Stadium and Kirsten wasted no time in getting down to business as soon as they arrived at the venue in the morning.
And all the different-coloured balls, each with unique facets, were pressed into service right away as the batsmen and bowlers took up their positions in the nets. Harbhajan, Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma were first handed the red-and-white coloured balls in order to fine-tune their seam positions, following which they were given the SG Test balls to bowl with.
And the batsmen present too, starting with Virender Sehwag, went through their motions, each working on a particular aspect of their batting. Sehwag was seen leaving a number of balls, while Sachin Tendulkar seemed more concerned with his bat-swing.
The two pacers, Zaheer and Ishant then returned for another spell, this time looking to hide the ball in their hands in order to practice their reverse-swing. The full-strength 15-member Indian Test squad is expected to assemble at Mohali on Tuesday.
With the likes of skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Murali Vijay and Suresh Raina, just fresh from winning the Champions League T20 trophy with Chennai Super Kings, switching them back to the Test frame of mind in double-quick time will be the biggest challenge facing Kirsten & Co.
Source: Web Search
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