India's batting was nothing short of embarrassing during their 47-run defeat to New Zealand in their World T20 opener in Nagpur, and that's an issue that was addressed on a priority basis when they stepped onto the Eden turf for a practice session yesterday ahead of today's clash against arch-rivals Pakistan
Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan (right) at the Eden Gardens nets yesterday
Kolkata: India's batting was nothing short of embarrassing during their 47-run defeat to New Zealand in their World T20 opener in Nagpur, and that's an issue that was addressed on a priority basis when they stepped onto the Eden turf for a practice session yesterday ahead of today's clash against arch-rivals Pakistan.
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Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan (right) at the Eden Gardens nets yesterday
Batters No 1, 2 and 3 — Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli straightaway padded up and headed into the nets yesterday afternoon. India were done in by the spin of NZ's Mitchell Santner (4-11), Ish Sodhi (3-18) and Nathan McCullum (2-15) in Nagpur, but today it's going to be all about Pakistan's pace as Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz will come hard at the batting-heavy Indians.
Toiling away
It's no wonder that India's batting trio opted to face pacers for a better part of their training session yesterday. Pacers Ashish Nehra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya, besides a host of pace-bowing net bowlers bent their backs as Rohit, Dhawan and Kohli batted away for almost an hour simultaneously in neighbouring nets.
Rohit was a bit away from Dhawan and Kohli, probably preferring to spend more time with coach Sanjay Bangar at the side in order to hit the high notes at his favourite venue. There were no flashy strokes on his part; more about watching the ball closely and keeping it down. Bangar was seen discussing bat position and footwork with the prolific opener.