India’s Training: Light Moments, Strong Focus

The vibrant, playful, yet intense atmosphere in the India camp was mirrored in the fielding session. This intensity was evident again when they took the nets later.

“Great fielders don’t dive,” joked Hardik Pandya after he grabbed a screamer blasted to his left by fielding coach T Dilip. He was supposed to guard a makeshift goalpost behind him. Prior to the next guy taking the pitch, each player had five chances. It was a sort of fielding drill disguised as a penalty shootout.

After that, things changed rapidly. Not even dives could rescue him; three missiles came his way low and flat and were all dropped. Tilak Varma emerged to “keep goal” as Dilip called out his score with a mocking air of seriousness.

With his cries of “chala bagundi” (well done) whenever Tilak threw himself around to make a save, Arshdeep Singh quickly transformed into a part-time commentator as the conversation shifted to Telugu.

It was Jasprit Bumrah’s turn next. He couldn’t help but chuckle as he approached: “Point again, coach?” he said, turning to face the reporters who were filming everything he did. “Reel content coming for you guys!” All of this was a reference to the catch he made at point to get Saim Ayub off the opening ball of play on Sunday.

Although Tuesday night temperatures have marginally decreased from 40 degrees Celsius to 35 to 36 degrees since the Asia Cup began, the team did not have any relief as their training session was extended to more than four hours on consecutive days.

At the ICC Academy in Dubai, the top order took centre stage, hitting balls long and hard, into the woods and beyond, while the batters who hadn’t hit in the first two games—Sanju Samson, Axar Patel, and Hardik—spent a lot of time at the nets. To the point where you questioned whether anyone was actually monitoring the balls’ progress.

As each batter went through their drill, coach Gautam Gambhir and assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate watched from behind the nets.

Particularly Rinku Singh was subjected to a thorough examination, repeatedly defeated by Arshdeep and Harshit Rana’s speed and bounce. The test became more rigorous. Rinku had no mercy from Bumrah, who began with a brief run before gradually ramping up to full force. Rinku was constantly bothered by harsh lengths and seam movement, whereas everything on the pads was brushed aside. After his batting session, he eventually took off his gloves and engaged in timed sprints to cool down.

By the end of India’s session, they had engaged in a wide variety of enjoyable and teasing actions. Kuldeep Yadav and a few support staff members joined in as skipper Suryakumar Yadav cut a birthday cake that some members of India’s travelling media had prepared.

The atmosphere at the nearby ground was very different, with Pakistan avoiding any media representatives who were gathered at the ropes’ edge.

Before the players split up for a football game, practiced catching, and then entered the nets, coach Mike Hesson spoke the most during the team huddle. Perhaps in order to avoid the heat, they decided to exercise from 8 to 11 p.m., but it didn’t make it any less harsh.

Hesson watched Ayub’s back-foot play when they started their center-wicket nets, noting that he kept his shots down, in contrast to his dismissal against India, when he tried to flay Hardik over point. By the way, Ayub spent a lot of time in Hesson’s ear and has taken more wickets than balls faced in the Asia Cup thus far. Haris Rauf, who was eager to get a look-in after warming the bench in the previous two games, let the ball rip when Mohammad Haris had additional drills.