ICC World Cup: Team India Show off Their Football Skills, or Lack of it
While India captain MS Dhoni and his deputy Virat Kohli showed off some fine football skills during practice at Junction Oval in Melbourne on Tuesday, the rest of the team desperately need a crash course in the beautiful game.
© Mid-Day
They're not expected to kick the football around like professionals, but some members of India's world champion cricket outfit desperately need a crash course in football.(Full Coverage)
Besides skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, his deputy Virat Kohli and Ambati Rayudu, most of India's cricketers struggle when they try to negotiate the bigger ball, as compared to the cherry they handle with ease. And Wednesday afternoon's training session at the Junction Oval here was yet another round of football funnies.
Having returned to training for the first time since Sunday's decimation of Pakistan in their World Cup opener, the Men in Blue began their practice drills at the St Kilda Cricket Club's ground here with a game of football.
Two teams of nine members each were quickly picked. Dhoni, Kohli, Mohit Sharma, Stuart Binny, Rohit Sharma, Mohammad Shami, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and coach Sanjay Bangar formed Team One. Rayudu, Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane, Dhawal Kulkarni, Umesh Yadav and trainer Sudarshan formed the second team. In the hour-long encounter, Dhoni, Kohli and Rayudu looked particularly impressive.
The captain and vice captain combined beautifully to create some great moves upfront with Stuart Binny, who was no pushover either. Rayudu, meanwhile, having been resigned to a team that seemed comparatively weaker, could do little as his team conceded goals thick and fast.