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The five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy is just days away from start and both teams are toiling hard to get the series going on a positive note. With first Test scheduled to be played from November 22 to 26 at the Optus Stadium in Perth, the Men in Blue went through fielding drills on Tuesday, November 19.
In the video shared by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), star batting stalwart Virat Kohli was also seen in action, alongside other players like Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant. During the drill, Kohli was also seen disagreeing with one of his teammates who requested for easy drills during India’s first fielding session at the Optus Stadium in Perth.
Kyu karein?: Virat Kohli shuts teammate’s request of easy drills
However, the incident was captured for only two seconds, Virat Kohli was caught saying, “Kyu karein? Aur kam maaro udhar (Why should we? Throw it more towards them).” His reponse came when a player requested for an easy drill as he said, “thoda easy rakh lo (keep it a bit easy).” Speaking of the drill, Team India’s fielding coach, T Dilip pitted players against each other in a unique drill, which he claimed as team bonding session. He aligned fielders in different positions to practice the Relay Throw phenomenon, implying that whoever throws first is rewarded a point. The likes of R Ashwin, Virat Kohli impressed with their throws, hitting the bulls-eye and making the coach happy ahead of the crucial five-match Test series.
Watch Team India’s fielding drills with T Dilip:
In the video shared by BCCI, Fielding Coach T Dilip said, “The drill is very simple. Whoever throws first will be getting one point. What we wanted to do today was want everyone to get together and closer to the match in terms of what we wanted. So that is why today's team drill was more related to retrieving where a fielder at the boundary throws the ball to the in-fielder. So instead of one long throw, we wanted to have two flat throws.”
'We put that into practice so that players know whether to stand towards the left or right so that they are in a proper position and not wasting time in turn. So players on the boundary are also aware that another person is waiting for it so that they can throw the ball in one bounce into the hands,' he further explained.
