It's cup prep time for Men in Blue!

India’s Shardul Thakur (extreme left), Umran Malik, Jaydev Unadkat, Yuzvendra Chahal and Mohammed Siraj (extreme right) train ahead of the first one-day international against Australia at the Wankhede Stadium yesterday. Pic/Ashish Raje

Team India began this year's ODI World Cup (October-November) preparations at the same iconic venue - Wankhede Stadium - on Wednesday where MS Dhoni's team clinched the coveted trophy in 2011. India and Australia will clash in the first of the three ODIs on Friday after a decent practice session on Wankhede's red-soil pitches.

Hardik call the shots

With regular skipper Rohit Sharma missing the first ODI due family commitments, stand-in-captain Hardik Pandya didn't waste a single minute to start activities as soon as he entered the ground. He initiated the session bowling with speedster Umran Malik to left-hander Ishan Kishan. Both pacers bowled to Suryakumar Yadav for a good amount of time. The all-rounder then took guard against pacers Shardul Thakur and Malik and had some big hits against off-spinner spinner Washington Sundar. Surprisingly, Hardik also bowled some leg-spin to Suryakumar.

Fielding coach Dilip

India's fielding coach T Dilip, who conducted individual drills and fielding sessions with a few players, remarked that the team were focusing on direct hits. "There are certain areas where we have certainly improved over a period of time. If you look at the number of direct-hits in the [T20] World Cup and that one direct hit from KL Rahul [against Bangladesh], it changed the course of the match. So, that's something we are looking at as a group. If you look at its overall ratio, even though there are no run outs, the number of times we have hit the stumps, has improved a bit. That's one area we will keep improving," Dilip said when mid-day asked him about the areas of concern for him as a fielding coach, during the press conference. "Not concerned," he started off by saying.

The fielding coach also lavished praise on Hardik for his leadership qualities. "He's [Hardik] the captain now officially, but he has been in our leadership group for all these matches and he's proved in T20s what he can bring to the table as a captain. Even if Rohit is the captain, he [Hardik] is part of our leadership group. He adds a lot of value to the team."

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Kohli, Jadeja lauded

Dilip rated Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja highly for their high intensity levels even during the practice sessions and reckoned Rahul's presence as a wicketkeeper gives more balance to the team. "We all know that KL is a wonderful player. He has a proven record. Even in ODIs, in the middle-order, he has proved enough as a batter. As a wicketkeeper, he provides a lot of balance to the team. It's not that difficult to work on his wicketkeeping apart from refining a few aspects," added Dilip.