Yuvraj, Sreesanth skip optional training; Sehwag fit
All-rounder Yuvraj Singh and temperamental pacer S Sreesanth chose to give it a miss but all other members of India's World Cup squad slogged it out at the Sardar Patel Stadium during an optional training session on Tuesday.
- Press Trust of India
- Updated: March 22, 2011 02:22 PM IST
All-rounder Yuvraj Singh and temperamental pacer S Sreesanth chose to give it a miss but all other members of India's World Cup squad slogged it out at the Sardar Patel Stadium during an optional training session on Tuesday.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and senior batsmen such as Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag were among the players, who trained during the optional session ahead of their high-octane quarterfinal clash against the Australia on Thursday here.
Opener Virender Sehwag, who was nursing a knee injury, went through the paces under the watchful eyes of coach Gary Kirsten and looked comfortable.
Sehwag had to sit out of Sunday's concluding group B game against West Indies in Chennai due to the knee injury. Sehwag's knee has been bothering him since the start of the World Cup.
Team India manager Ranjib Biswal said that all the players are fit for the Australia match.
"All players are fit and in good condition. All are looking forward to the key clash against Australia," Biswal told reporters here.
Sehwag had earlier skipped few sessions during the league stage of the tournament after flying to Delhi for an appointment with physiotherapist for a ribcage injury that he had picked up during an earlier training session.
Middle-order batsmen Suresh Raina or Yusuf Pathan will most likely make way for Sehwag against Australia. In Sehwag's absence, Gautam Gambhir had opened the innings with Tendulkar in their last match against the Caribbean side.
The session started with a discussion between coach Kirsten and the players followed by a throwing exercise to improve concentration and accuracy. The training also included the regular net session.
Australia will have a net session later in the afternoon at the same venue.
India will go into the match on the back of an 80-run victory over the West Indies, while defending champions Australia saw the end of their 34-game unbeaten run in the World Cup, courtesy a four-wicket defeat by Pakistan in their concluding group A league fixture.
India had defeated the mighty Australians by 38 runs in a World Cup warm-up match in Bangalore on February 13.