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'Rockstars' of Team India get down to practice in NZ

SachDan

By SachDan
in Cricket Talk

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Intense first training session for Indians http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/nzvind2009/content/current/story/391689.html

India have brought rains with them, locals in Christchurch claim. But when it came to India's first practice session, the clouds made way for the sun, and India trained in ideal conditions at the picturesque Bert Sutcliffe Oval. Equally warm was the reception that India got - largely from Indians living in New Zealand, at a ground half an hour away from the town and not known by many in the city. Earlier in the day, though, the thoughts of outdoor activities looked unlikely. It was an ideal winter morning with the rain sounding pitter-patter on the canopy of a street café near Cathedral Square, a perfect place to enjoy a hot coffee. The radio announced: "The rockstars of cricket are here." So did a hoarding outside the AMI Stadium, which was closed on the weekend. The "rockstars" campaign has been devised to advertise India's tour of New Zealand. Elsewhere New Zealand Herald profiled some of the key Indian players under the headline, "The happy-slog millionaires". The Indian team took a bus to Lincoln University, which houses the Oval, passing by lush green meadows and the idyllic Prebbleton village. For someone new to the city, it is difficult to believe a team would go so far out of the city for the nets session. But the England Lions, here to face New Zealand Emerging Players, were already training there when the Indians arrived. The Indians may be used to drawing attention wherever they go in the world but even they wouldn't have expected the numbers that turned up to watch them at a ground half of Christchurch hasn't heard of. The Lions, including Luke Wright, Samit Patel and Sajid Mahmood, went on about their business like university students on a routine day. Not a single journalist to watch, a fan was a far cry. The ground staff golf-carted their way around the ground as they would on any other day. But around 2.30pm, cars started pulling up in front of the ground. From nowhere a crowd of about 35 gathered, one of them a courier driver and a school mate of Irfan Pathan's. John Wright was surprised to see the crowd and realised what they were there for only after the Indian team arrived. "Sachin, Sachin," he chanted, though not too loud lest the man himself heard. This was no routine practice session. The groundstaff had to get to work immediately to keep people out of the nets area. The word spread, and in no time the crowd almost doubled. A few Indian university students, along with their New Zealand friends, were among those who stayed the longest. Out came the bean bags, sofa, an easy chair, from what looked like a hostel building near the Oval. And the beer. The rest made good use of the grass banks around the ground. Every good shot at the nets, every good extraordinary delivery bowled, every special catch taken in the fielding practice, was cheered. The players also kept the crowd entertained with banter loud enough to be heard across the nets. But despite the fun and games, it was an intense first session, focusing on all three disciplines, after which all the players took time to sign autographs - on bats, papers, and bodies - and take photographs. A quaint university had come to life for three hours. The locals acknowledged not many would turn up if New Zealand were training. That will be put to test on Monday, when the hosts assemble after finishing their domestic Twenty20s.
The series just got harder to wait:yay:
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Indians get down to practice Dhoni's men put through fielding drill by Kirsten More... Indians get down to practice Dhoni’s men put through fielding drill by Kirsten Kirsten spends some time with Rohit Sharma NZC mulling sending Indian players to different provinces for practice Christchurch: A game of rugby and some fielding and batting drills comprised the strenuous three-hour workout the Indian cricket team went through ahead of the series against New Zealand that kicks off with a Twenty20 match on February 25. The visitor practised at the picturesque Bert Sutcliffe grounds. Although Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men are the Twenty20 World champion, they will bear in mind that they had been humbled by 10 runs by the resilient New Zealand during the inaugural championship at Johannesburg last September. Warming up with a game of touch rugby, Dhoni’s men were put through the fielding drill by coach Gary Kirsten before they moved to the adjacent ground for a hit at the nets. Kirsten spent some time with Rohit Sharma urging the youngster to get his front foot in the right place while driving the ball. Time and again, Kirsten walked up to the middle to guide Rohit with his bio-mechanics before he got his act right in the second session for a knock against Ishant Sharma and Irfan Pathan. Sachin Tendulkar took the nets soon after, often walking up to Kirsten and asking him to pitch the ball in a particular position so that he could lean into his shots. Pace spearhead Zaheer Khan chose to go for a run alongside bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad, long after his teammates had wound up. Practice matches Meanwhile, to fulfil its commitment of arranging a warm-up match for the Indians before the first Test, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) is mulling sending them to different provinces for practice. India had agreed to extend its Test series from two to three matches on the request of NZC and in lieu of that, it had demanded some practice for the players, who are not part of the ODI squad. Six Indians — Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman, Amit Mishra, M. Vijay, Dhawal Kulkarni and L. Balaji — are expected to play in New Zealand’s domestic circuit before the first Test begins on March 18. The NZC Chief Executive, Justin Vaughan, said they were making plans to fulfil their commitment. “India have bent over backwards to accommodate our wish for three Tests so we have to give them some warm-up. I said to them ‘we won’t leave you in the lurch, we will give you some decent warm-up,’ and one way or the other we will honour that,” Vaughan said. “Dravid and Co. are pencilled to play the State championship round that runs from March 6 to March 9. Which side they play in would either be a “contestable process” or made by ‘random allocation,”’ Vaughan was quoted as saying by the Dominion Post. Windfall India’s tour of New Zealand is going to fetch NZC a windfall with more than $25 million expected from a multimillion-dollar deal for television rights. NZC is likely to pocket $one million each for the 22 days the Indians are to take the field. Vaughan did not give out the exact details but admitted a tour by India generates “many times” more income than tours by Australia, South Africa and England. “I doubt we’ve had a bigger year than the one that’s in front of us,” Vaughan said adding, it was even bigger than the one they had from the Cricket World Cup, which was around $20m.

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