Virat Kohli sharpens batting skills during practice session at Eden Gardens

Virat Kohli gestures during a training session. Picture/ AFP

Battling a prolonged lean patch, former India captain Virat Kohli batted at the nets and also took throw-downs during India's first practice session ahead of the Twenty20 series against the West Indies here.

Kohli was first to enter the nets to take throwdowns from the Indian support staff as he batted from both ends before going for the drill.

Later he had a lengthy net session, spanning more than 45 minutes.

India skipper Rohit Sharma along with coach Rahul Dravid was also seen in a long discussion with curator Sujan Mukherjee.

In the white-ball format, the Indian ace last scored a century against the West Indies in August 2019, in Port of Spain ODI and since then, he has had 10 50-plus scores but failed to convert them into a ton.
Across formats, he's yet to score an international century in more than two years and his last century came against Bangladesh in India's first pink ball Day/Night Test at Eden Gardens here in November 2019.

CAB requests BCCI to allow spectators

There will not be any spectators in India's opening T20I against the West Indies on Wednesday but the Cricket Association of Bengal is "hopeful" that the Board will reconsider its decision for the second and third T20Is.

"The Cricket Association of Bengal on Monday again requested the BCCI to allow spectators for remaining matches," CAB president Avishek Dalmiya said in a statement.
"The CAB will intimate all stakeholders once it receives feedback from the Board."

For the first match, there would be only 2000-odd match representatives and sponsors. "The BCCI has allowed only upper tier and hospitality boxes for sponsors and representatives of the match," he added.

Earlier, Dalmiya hoped to conduct the matches with spectators after the state government allowed 75 per cent capacity. But the BCCI president Sourav Ganguly came in the local association way and said they will not allow spectators in the stadium as part of the Board's safety-first approach.

Dalmiya then requested the Board to allow entry of fans. 70 per cent of spectators were allowed to attend the India-New Zealand T20I in November last year.

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