Batting Power Play has been a problem area for India in this World Cup. In both the games against England and South Africa, the hosts lost a heap of wickets and managed to score at just about six-an-over, which took the drive away from them. It’s crunch time now and the team management is clearly looking to settle the problem. In the optional training session that took place on Wednesday at the IIT Chemplast ground here, the entire focus was on power-hitting.
The big guns like Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra were not there in the practice session, but the rest were all focused to go for the big shots with the fielders within an imaginary ring. Suresh Raina, who is in running for a berth in the West Indies game, was the first to go into the nets, along with Virat Kohli.
R. Ashwin's ability to bowl at the 'death' should get him a place in the eleven ahead of Piyush Chawla, who remains an aggressive choice.
While Kohli was his usual self, it seemed Raina was given instructions to go for the big shots. He played quite a few big ones which cleared the ground, but skied a few as well, while a couple of short deliveries around his armpit bothered the left-hander. Raina's fight for a spot in the playing XI is with Yusuf Pathan and the latter, after being hit around for a while, looked desperate to prove that he can clear the fence better than anybody else in the Indian line-up.
It seemed Pathan had come in to bat in the second over of the batting Power Play and anything within his hitting zone kept going out of the ground as the fans standing beside the fence went mad in excitement. Pathan’s failure in the South Africa game has raised a few eyebrows and one could assume by his approach on Wednesday that he is keen to prove the detractors wrong. Skipper Dhoni has always maintained that Pathan should be given the license to thrill, even though he likes Raina's gutsy approach that has helped him win many a battle for CSK at the MAC Stadium, the venue of Sunday's match.
See all World Cup 2011 Photos at Legends of Sports
The big guns like Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra were not there in the practice session, but the rest were all focused to go for the big shots with the fielders within an imaginary ring. Suresh Raina, who is in running for a berth in the West Indies game, was the first to go into the nets, along with Virat Kohli.
R. Ashwin's ability to bowl at the 'death' should get him a place in the eleven ahead of Piyush Chawla, who remains an aggressive choice.While Kohli was his usual self, it seemed Raina was given instructions to go for the big shots. He played quite a few big ones which cleared the ground, but skied a few as well, while a couple of short deliveries around his armpit bothered the left-hander. Raina's fight for a spot in the playing XI is with Yusuf Pathan and the latter, after being hit around for a while, looked desperate to prove that he can clear the fence better than anybody else in the Indian line-up.
It seemed Pathan had come in to bat in the second over of the batting Power Play and anything within his hitting zone kept going out of the ground as the fans standing beside the fence went mad in excitement. Pathan’s failure in the South Africa game has raised a few eyebrows and one could assume by his approach on Wednesday that he is keen to prove the detractors wrong. Skipper Dhoni has always maintained that Pathan should be given the license to thrill, even though he likes Raina's gutsy approach that has helped him win many a battle for CSK at the MAC Stadium, the venue of Sunday's match.
See all World Cup 2011 Photos at Legends of Sports
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