“Reminds me of Chennai,” remarked M.S. Dhoni, the Indian captain, as he left the ‘nets', sweating and sun-burnt. The Indian team practised for more than three hours on Friday at Kingsmead in hot, sweltering conditions, and while the weather might have evoked thoughts of India, the pitch was unlike anything you'd expect to find in the sub-continent.
There's still time for the second Test, which begins on Sunday. The wicket is by no means complete; both the groundsman's cutter and the sun still have time to do their thing, but on Friday morning, the strip had a generous covering of grass, most of it live.
The groundsman is happy with where the wicket is at, in terms of its stage of preparation, and is happier still that it has had plenty of sun. But it contains moisture, and the expectations are that it will have pace, bounce, and movement.
The tide plays a big role in Kingsmead as well: its natural cycles allow the quicker bowlers to swing the ball at different periods in the match. The Indians though are taking little notice of the pitch.
Paddy Upton, who deals with mental and physical conditioning, said the players knew that the strip on match-day could be subtly different from what it is now; in any case, the practice wickets both outdoors and indoors were similar in nature to the traditional Kingsmead pitch.
Importance of yoga
Upton's reason for addressing the press was to deny the story, reported by some sections of the media, that India had signed former Zimbabwe cricketer Neil Johnson as the team's yoga instructor. The actual yoga instructor, Jim Harrington, was presented before the media, and he and Upton explained its purpose.
The reduced downtime between series had increased the importance of recovery, said Upton — with yoga, the cricketers could work their whole body, stretch, strengthen, and recover quicker than it would take by other means. The dynamic nature of yoga, and its involvement of all body parts (as opposed to working in the gym, which typically trains muscles in isolation), made it a natural fit for cricket, said Upton. Yoga, he added, would supplement the work the cricketers are currently doing.
Practice session
The focus of attention, during the ‘nets', was on Zaheer Khan, set to return to the side, and Suresh Raina, under pressure to retain his place. Zaheer bowled first up, partook in a bout of banter with Virender Sehwag as he settled on his length, and proceeded to have an absorbing battle with Rahul Dravid.
“That looked to come in, and went away off the seam,” said Dravid, after being squared up by one delivery. Zaheer merely nodded, and went back to his mark.
Raina spent time at the back of the ‘nets', talking to Gary Kirsten. Cheteshwar Pujara, who Dhoni said was pushing Raina for a place, batted impressively in both the spinners and quick-bowlers' ‘nets'. He was earlier put through an intense, comprehensive catching routine by the support staff, while Raina lounged on the turf.
Raina eventually batted, closely watched by Sachin Tendulkar. The great man also spent time talking to the left-hander, demonstrating a technical point or two.
The Indian ‘nets' had visitors in national selectors, Surendra Bhave and Narendra Hirwani, the latter bowling fat, gentle leg-breaks from time to time. M. Vijay was the last to leave, completing a set of specific throw-downs to groove his front-foot drive.
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