Gaji
A stressed India will be expecting Virender Sehwag to fire on all cylinders next to Northamptonshire in a practice match starting today.
Such was the clamor the electronic media to record every move of Sehwag that Gautam Gambhir's strong knocking session facing throw downs from fielding coach Trevor Penny and monitored by coach Duncan Fletcher largely went unnoticed.
While Sehwag is recurring from a shoulder injury, Gambhir had been rendered out of action because of the impact his right elbow received due to a ferocious Matt Prior sweep in the first Test at the Lord's last month.
Another wounded cricketer Zaheer Khan kept himself away from inside nets but his recovery has been on course and he has begun to bowl with growing vigor over the last three days.
Needless to say, all three will be keenly experiential in the two-day match. India would look to field all three of them in the third Test in Edgbaston on August 10 even if their presence and output is abridged to minimum in the two-day tie.
The match will be of equal anxiety for skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni who needs to do well with both the willow and the big gloves. And so it must be for Suresh Raina who has again got his critic going over his handling of short-pitched bowling.
Both Dhoni and Raina were two early turn-outs at the nets, along with Sehwag and Gambhir, as the visitors look to recover belief and respect in the eyes of millions of fans.
Within an hour, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman had shown up at the indoor nets as a determined India announces its intention to set the house in order.
The wicket in the middle, long engrained in the Indian mindset as one favouring the tweakers, is likely to be a complete contrast and extremely hopeful for fast bowlers. There is an even spread of grass in the middle and the pitch is no longer one which turned and bounced from the first morning and where Bishan Singh Bedi in the past, and Anil Kumble in the 1990's, picked up wickets abundantly.
It is also the same place where Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann earned their spurs. The hosts, leaders of the Division 2 County Table, are unlikely to roll out a red rug in reception.
They understand their role is to keep the visitors' morale down after England compressed the best Test side in the world at Lord's and Trent Bridge. Among the hosts' roll, is one the Indian fans would be familiar with - Chaminda Vaas of Sri Lanka who is now retired from international cricket.
Right-arm pacemen Jack Brooks too is highly valued, more so against the visiting teams as he did impress against the Australians two years ago. Lee Daggett and David Lucas, a right and left-arm quick respectively, both six feet and above, are unlikely to make it easy for the Indians.
In a strange way, this concentration on the part of hosts should suit the visitors who are looking to simulate the conditions they surely would face in Edgbaston, come August 10.
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