Bharath in Dubai
‘Where is Rohit Sharma?’ ‘Has Rohit come out for practice?’ ‘I still can’t seem to see Rohit.’ ‘Keep an eye on Rohit’ ‘Why hasn’t Rohit come out?’ From the volley of questions, it is crystal clear that the lenses of all the cameras and phones were zoomed in on one player, and that was Rohit Sharma. The simple reason behind the frenzy among the reporters at the ICC Academy ground was because Rohit had picked up a hamstring problem during the India-Pakistan encounter.
Around 15 minutes into the net session, Rohit slowly made his way into the middle. On expected lines, the cameras were zoomed in to observe whether he was wearing any protective gear. Yes, around his left thigh, one could notice a small strapping. The next question that flashes in the mind is did he partake in the training workshop? If the answer is yes, then for how long did he bat in the nets? What about the fielding drills?
Rohit’s batting session started at around 7 PM local time. In fact, his back foot was activating reasonably quickly, allowing his front foot to move towards the ball. By then, one could gauge with some degree of conviction that the injury must be a mild one. However, during the practice, he wasn’t indulging in any running between the wickets. To make it even more interesting, he didn’t participate in throwing-down-the-stumps fielding drills. Mohammed Shami was one of the players who found the target bulls-eye.
Logic still says it would be better for India to rest Rohit in the inconsequential Champions Trophy game against New Zealand. In that scenario, Rishabh Pant might find a place in the XI. Some of Rohit’s teammates too practiced with some intensity. KL Rahul was the first one to walk out to bat. He ended up practicing his range-hitting skills against spin.
It always feels as if the wicketkeeper-batter plays with more bravado in the nets. After some warm-ups, Virat Kohli also was among the batters who partook in the training. Initially, he faced a couple of side-arm throwers – one of them resembled Matt Henry, trying to simulate the veteran pacer’s away-going delivery. The other one was taller and seemed to be throwing the ball with a front-on action.
The resultant inward angle indicated that he was trying to replicate Will O’Rourke. Although, at times, the length was a little fuller than what one would expect from Rourke. The counterargument to that would be that early on in Rourke’s spell, he has a habit of bowling a very full delivery or the inswinging yorker. Earlier in the day, New Zealand too had a net. Incidentally, Rourke looked the most impressive of the lot with his ‘heavy ball’. On enough occasions, he hit the sticker of the bat quite hard, alongside beating the inside edge.
Meanwhile, Henry was seen limping a tad, even though he bowled a short spell. Nathan Smith and Jacob Duffy, his teammates, ended up bowling longer spells. So, that made one ponder whether New Zealand are considering the possibility of resting one of their main pace bowlers. Daryl Mitchell, who hasn’t played in the last few games, indulged in some catching practice. Kane Williamson, the bedrock of the batting unit, was intent on perfecting the sweep. Tom Latham, the Test skipper, was aiming to pick the length early versus spin, and use the depth of the crease.
Some meters away from the batting nets, Glenn Phillips was facing throwdowns, with an eye on going right forward to smother the spin or playing right back in order to take advantage of any offering that was shorter in length. The Kiwis also employed a left-arm wrist spinner in the practice session. The goal of every single New Zealand batter was to leave no stone unturned in terms of their preparations ahead of their litmus test against the Indian spinners.
That was in brief about the practice sessions of India and New Zealand. There were enough keynotes from the training to pen down, with the major takeaway being the fitness of the India skipper.