da brdice： You’ve grown so accustomed to the hype and hoopla that follows the Indian team around that the idea of them playing in front of the proverbial three menand dog seemed out of the realms of fantasy
Dileep Premachandran in Bangalore08-Aug-2006
As always with Mahendra Singh Dhoni the big shots were never far away © Getty Images
As the ball soared into the sky and landed with a thud onto the concretestands behind long-on, you braced yourself for the explosion of noise thatusually accompanies any Mahendra Singh Dhoni big hit. Instead, there waseerie near silence. With only a few reporters and a sprinkling of othersin attendance, there was no danger to eardrums from the Indian team’spractice match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.You’ve grown so accustomed to the hype and hoopla that follows these boysaround that the idea of them playing in front of the proverbial three menand dog seemed out of the realms of fantasy. They seemed to enjoy itthough, especially Dhoni, who smacked 32 from 30 balls before one loft toomany against the offspin of Ramesh Powar. The match billed as Rahul[Dravid] XI against [Ajit] Agarkar XI was more a straight contest betweenbat and ball, though Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh enacted both rolesbefore the 40 overs were completed.Both sides had been given targets by the team management. The bowlers wereasked to choke off the runs, and look to concede less than 35 in 10 overs,whereas the batsmen were to rattle along at 75 runs in the same period.With Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid in fine fettle, that certainlyappeared a possibility. Tendulkar’s ability to throw from the deep may bea subject of debate, but there’s nothing whatsoever inhibiting hisshotmaking ability. He drove and cut with élan during a cameo of 26 (24balls) and it ended only with an outstanding catch on the run from DineshMongia at deep midwicket.Not to be outdone, Dravid stroked 10 fours before retiring to make way forYuvraj Singh, and Virender Sehwag thumped 28 in even time before Sreesanthgot one to keep low and trap him in front. Yuvraj, whose form in theone-day game was one of the features of India’s resurgence last season,crafted an elegant 41, and while he and Dhoni were in the middle, the bigshots were never too far away. Yuvraj played one superb sweep offHarbhajan and then spanked one straight down the ground, but an attempt torepeat the stroke ended up at long-on. Harbhajan, having won that littlebattle of the Punjab, couldn’t restrain his laughter.With Ian Frazer and Greg King umpiring, and Greg Chappell watching fromthe stands, Suresh Raina and Pathan didn’t stay too long, leaving MohammadKaif, very much the mid-innings anchor, and Harbhajan to see it through tothe close of play. By the time the players retreated to the shade andlunch inside the National Cricket Academy premises, 242 runs had come from40 overs, much nearer the batsmen’s target than the bowlers.
Mending shoulder and all: However, there was nothing inhibiting Sachin Tendulkar’s shotmaking ability © Getty Images
SM Yusuf, who has a special place in Indian cricket history for havingno-balled Anil Kumble’s medium-pace – prompting the switch to legspin -had scored the game, and was kind enough to provide a scorecardafterwards. Pathan went for 42 from his five overs, and will be glad thathe won’t have to come up against Tendulkar and Dravid every day, whileDinesh Mongia, who went for 30 from four overs, was reminded that morethan a Persian Gulf separates these guys from those who are lions merelyin county cricket.Ultimately though, it was a good outing for everyone, relaxed and withplenty of banter and enough of an edge to make sure that it didn’t descendinto farce. After lunch and a team meeting, it was back to the hotel and aswim to cool down. Then perhaps, a few might just tune in to watchhighlights of Sri Lanka’s remarkable win at the SSC, confirmation if anywas needed of the sterner tests that lie in wait.