ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: India enjoy fielding drills in batsmen vs bowlers competition

Perth: The atmosphere in the Indian cricket camp was relaxed when they turned up for their fielding practice at the Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA) Ground in Perth in the lead-up to their ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 clash against the United Arab Emirates (UAE). After a day’s break on Tuesday, India made their way to the WACA in the afternoon.ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: POINTS TABLE

Though they were due to arrive at the ground at 2 PM local time, the high temperatures pushed them to reschedule it to 3.30 PM local time.Looking at the training session, it was evident that the team was enjoying itself, sharing a laugh and a few jokes with each other. AT first, they were divided into three groups. Sanjay Bangar used a tennis racquet and a ball to hand quick catches to MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli among others. Some of the other members took skiers under the supervision of bowling coach Bharat Arun. Then, another group had some ground fielding sessions with R Sridhar. Coach Duncan Fletcher kept an eye on everything and even had a short word with skipper Dhoni during one of the short breaks between drills.ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: SCHEDULE & MATCH DETAILS

But, the most engaging part came later in the session when the batsmen and the bowlers were divided into two groups. A stump with two nets were placed in the middle and two coaches each sending ground volleys. A player from each side had to come up and throw down the stumps. The side that hit the stumps got one point. If both sides hit, the one that struck first was given a point. It was an intense contest. On one occasion, Mohit Sharma stumbled while fielding, by then one of the batsmen had thrown and missed. Mohit kept his cool and threw down the stumps while partially lying down. There were friendly banters between the two teams as they kept score.

Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan celebrated when the batsmen won the competition, the latter had an entertaining victory dance. Both sides then met, shared more laughs before proceeding for some football. Kohli was yet again amongst the scorers. Watching India practice, one could see that the confidence was rising and there weren’t any airs of nerves.ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Complete Coverage

India will now face the UAE on Saturday at the WACA. They will then wait for another week before taking on West Indies at the same venue. So far, they have beaten Pakistan and South Africa in the two matches. Those two victories would have given them a lot of confidence.’

(Nishad Pai Vaidya is a Correspondent with CricketCountry and anchor for the site’s YouTube Channel. His Twitter handle is @nishad_45)