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Ishant, Ranadeb for three-day match Harish Kotian in Leicester | August 02, 2007 19:17 IST
After the crushing victory over England [Images] in the second Test, the Indian team decided to take it easy on the eve of their three-day tour match against Sri Lanka [Images] 'A', beginning on Friday, in Leicester. Most of the players stayed away from the two-hour practice session, which was optional for those who played in the Trent Bridge match. Yuvraj Singh [Images], Gautam Gambhir [Images], Ishant Sharma, Ranadeb Bose, Wasim Jaffer and Ramesh Powar got down to practice as captain Rahul Dravid [Images], who arrived for the last hour, checked out the conditions and oversaw the session.
Prasad had a long stint with young pacer Sharma, explaining to the Delhi pacer how important it is to bowl a good line and length while making the batsman play as much as possible. He also worked on Sharma's run-up after the youngster kept overstepping the bowling crease. Bose sent down quite a good spell and Robin Singh time and again applauded his bowling. Both the bowlers will get a chance to prove themselves against the Sri Lankans, who will be led by Thilan Samaraweera. The squad also boasts of a few Test players in Michael Vandort, Kaushal Lokuarachchi and Rangana Herath. Surprisingly, pacer S Sreesanth [Images] was missing from the session. The Kerala [Images] speedster struggled to find his rhythm in the second Test and a session in the nets may have done him some good. Pacer Zaheer Khan [Images], who has bowled the bulk of the overs in the two Tests, is expected to be rested along with Sachin Tendulkar [Images], Sourav Ganguly [Images], VVS Laxman and Anil Kumble. The three-day outing provides a good opportunity for the Indians to try out the youngster in the side and also keep the momentum going. A good showing against the Sri Lankans will be a huge boost ahead of the third Test at Oval. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||