SYDNEY, Australia — The Indian team had their first nets session since reaching the semi-finals of the 2015 World Cup yesterday, and the focus of attention was all-rounder Suresh Raina and his unique drill to get ready for the short-pitched bowling that is expected from the Australians.
The left-handed batsman has emerged as a key player in the Indian batting line-up, and even though he has handled the short ball pretty well in this tournament, it has been seen as his biggest weakness, something that Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc have tried to exploit during the Tests and the Tri-Series before the World Cup.
Raina has played three crucial knocks in India’s seven consecutive wins – an unbeaten 110 when his side looked in trouble against Zimbabwe, a 65 that put India back on track against Bangladesh in the quarter-finals, and a 74 that propelled India past 300 in their opening crunch match against arch-rivals Pakistan.
Yesterday, Raina practiced alone in the far end of the nets, with coach Duncan Fletcher “bowling” at him with wet tennis balls. But Fletcher wasn’t bowling really, he was serving using a tennis racquet.
That way, the wet balls came out at a much faster pace for the batsman and kicked a lot higher than a ball released from a normal bowling action. Fletcher’s tennis serves were neither as menacing as that of Marin Cilic, nor did they have the kick of Roger Federer, but it was enough to ace Raina several times.
The 66-year-old former England coach is hardly a picture of fitness, and he lasted for about 15-20 minutes before he had to call for replacement.
None other than the Indian captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni himself took over from the coach, and gave Raina a good workout. He was also seen speaking to Raina several times in between the drill.
Once Raina was done, opener Shikhar Dhawan used the same technique, but for less than 10 minutes.
Virat Kohli, who hasn’t exactly set the World Cup on fire with his batting after the knock of 107 in the opening match against Pakistan, had an extended batting session.
The Indian team were practicing outdoors for the first time since beating Bangladesh at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday. They have limited themselves to strength and conditioning sessions in the hotel. Their next nets will be tomorrow.
