Sports
Indians in good spirits at Sydney practice session
Sydney, March 23
Ahead of their high-voltage
World Cup semi-final against Australia here on Thursday, the Indian
cricket team looked in good spirits with the players looking calm and
composed as they underwent a training session on Monday.
The
defending champions went through a light-hearted practice session - a
few warm-up drills to flex their muscles, a nice casual round of
football and then a nets session, bcci.tv reported Monday.
All batsmen had a long stay at the nets with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and coach Duncan Fletcher keeping a close tab.
Opener
Rohit Sharma, coming off a maiden World Cup ton against Bangladesh in
the quarter-finals, looked in sublime touch, middling the ball well much
to the appreciation of his teammates.
Right beside him was
opening partner Shikhar Dhawan, who looked confident and made a
conscious effort to leave certain deliveries.
No.3 batsman Virat Kohli too had a long stint at the nets and had his entire focus on each ball that he faced.
Some
of the shots that he hit made a sweet sound off the bat and India would
be hoping their star batsman gets a big one against the four-time world
champions on Thursday.
Middle-order batter Suresh Raina
practiced playing short deliveries. Later, India captain Dhoni bowled
several bouncers with the tennis ball to Raina. The left-hand batsman
attempted several pull shots of the short deliveries.
The Indian bowlers bent their backs and racked up good speeds against their fellow batsmen.
Pacers
Umesh Yadav and Mohit Sharma sent a few whizzing past the batsmen's
chin while some of them were dealt with ease and severity.
Both
teams are gearing up for the crucial match and preparations look well
and truly on track with just a couple of days left for the marquee clash
at the Sydney Cricket Ground.