The Indian cricket team was seen back to doing hard yards just before the start of the first T20I against New Zealand at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Wednesday. The New Zealand T20Is is India’s second official assignment under Rahul Dravid’s coaching and the first under Rohit Sharma as the full-time T20I skipper, and as the team embarks on a new era, the first step towards next year’s T20 World Cup, they face an in-form New Zealand.
On Tuesday, the BCCI shared a video clip of India’s first gruelling practice session, in which coach Rahul Dravid turned throwdown specialist to the Indian team. The clip captured captain Rohit playing some sumptuous shots against Dravid. The video began with the team bus arriving the stadium, with Rohit and Rahul being the first two players to step out.
New roles 👌
New challenges 👊
New beginnings 👍Energies were high yesterday on Day 1 at the office for #TeamIndia T20I captain @ImRo45 & Head Coach Rahul Dravid. 👏 👏#INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/a8zlwCREhl
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 16, 2021
📸 📸: Some snapshots from #TeamIndia's 1⃣st practice session in Jaipur last evening. #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/LcQsQVVNuR
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 16, 2021
Rohit tried to aim at a single wicket as Axar Patel, Avesh Khan and Suryakumar Yadav looked on in the background. With Dravid walking with the bowling equipment, the camera panned towards Rohit, who entered the nets to take strike. It was then that Dravid began giving throwdowns to Rohit which the skipper played out with ease.
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Then it was Ashwin’s turn to bowl, with Rohit smoking the off-spinner for a huge hit. There onward, a montage of Rohit playing some delightful strokes unfolded before the 48-second-long clip came to an end. The BCCI also shared certain pictures of India’s training session ahead of the Jaipur T20I.
BCCI offered players a couple of days’ time to spend with family before asking them to reach the venue for the opening T20I. Ahead of the game, the players were seen hit the ground running in the nets as well under the watchful eyes of Dravid with the skipper Rohit Sharma also hitting the ball well.
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India have rested quite a few players for this series in order to manage their workload and the bubble fatigue as well. But there was no let-off in the intensity during the practice session among teh players. The Indian team looked determined even as Dravid was also seen going about his work in his first session after being appointed as a head coach recently.
