India Toil Hard at Barabati Stadium Ahead of First ODI Against Sri Lanka
Virat Kohli-led Indian team underwent a three-hour practice session on Friday with Wriddhiman Saha, who is recovering from a split webbing, looked in good touch ahead of the first ODI against Sri Lanka.
- Press Trust of India
- Updated: November 01, 2014 01:35 pm IST
Uncertainty over the availability of Wriddhiman Saha, who had a split webbing in his right hand, for the first ODI of the five-match series against Sri Lanka seems to be over as the wicketkeeper batsman looked fit ahead of the opener here on Sunday.
The Bengal wicketkeeper, who impressed during this year's IPL, looked in full flow during a full-fledged Indian training session under stand-in skipper Virat Kohli.  (Also read: Match Practice Better Than Net Practice, Legends Tell Mathews & Team)
Saha batted for about 15 minutes and looked at ease and later a team official said the wicketkeeper batsman is "available" for the series opener at the Barabati Stadium.
The Indian cricketers toiled for about three hours on Friday morning. Apart from Saha, the highlight of the session was Ravichandran Ashwin, who is making a comeback after being 'rested' for the India-West Indies series. (Also read: Amidst legends, Mathews is leading Sri Lanka by example)
India's frontline spinner for quite some time now, Ashwin was seen all padded up as he was the first to start the proceedings in the batting nets before the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Kohli, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina came in to bat.
Not only did he bat long, Ashwin was seen bowling in tandem with the likes of left-arm spinner Akshar Patel and Amit Mishra and was the last man to leave the field. (Also read: 'Rohit Sharma Showed He Has Completely Recovered')
It was a no-nonsense approach for the Kohli-led young turks who headed straight to the nets after a bit of stretching without opting for a fun football match, normally a feature in India's net sessions under MS Dhoni.
Among the bowlers, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma looked very impressive with great pace and bounce, while the other two pace duo of Varun Aaron and Dhawal Kulkarni too looked good.