India relaxed & playful
Team India had a relaxed practice session at the MCG on Tuesday afternoon, a day after it travelled from Auckland. Though it was an optional training session, the entire squad and support staff were present. For a change, they did not go to the nets for bowling and batting sessions but practised regulation fielding in the middle under an overcast sky. While Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were the first to be made to run for sky-high catching practice and accurate throws, Ravichandran Ashwin and the other bowlers joined the queue after a brief session of stretches. The team practised for over an hour-and-a-half under the keen supervision of team director Ravi Shastri and ended their light workout with the usual game of friendly football even as skipper MS Dhoni was engaged in keen talks with the support staff. The team is scheduled to get back to the full regimen on Wednesday morning, a day before it meets Bangladesh in its first knockout match of the tournament.
losing weight, gaining ground
Bangladesh all-rounder Mahmudullah Riyad was not always the smiling, kisses throwing, heart gesturing lad that he is in this World Cup. For almost a year before the World Cup, he was beset with poor form and was constantly criticised for being in the team with allegations of him being there because of his kinship with the then skipper Mushfiqur Rahim (the two are married to two sisters). But then he worked hard and lost around eight kgs through a rigorous diet and exercise regime which allowed him to shed his lethargy and give him the energy to emerge as his team’s most powerful batsman. “For 12 months, I didn’t perform up to the expected level. It was a learning stage in my career. I learned a lot about myself. I heard a lot of criticism. It inspired me to work harder,” he said.
Star listener
The World Cup broadcaster would now be let into conversations between on-field and video umpires on contentious decisions, but this will happen for only the “most important matches of the World Cup”. These include all the knockout matches of this tournament — the four quarter-finals, two semi-finals and the final. Star Sports would be allowed to use these conversations alongside the footage on decisions being evaluated by the video umpire, such as run-outs and DRS referrals. ICC announced this decision after reviewing its usage during the Australia-South Africa ODI before the World Cup.
The huge draw
The ICC is sitting pretty on what it says has been a deluge of interest in the event. For one, traffic on the official World Cup website grew over 1,500 per cent over 2011. Over 26 million unique visitors made for over 225 million pageviews. Of special interest has been the Match Centre which is the fastest live score available online. Match clips have also been hugely popular with over 24 million video plays combined across website and App.
Wives troop in
With the BCCI giving permission for WAGS to join the team members in the knockout stages, many have started arriving in Melbourne for the big match on March 18. No, it is not known whether Anushka Sharma would be flying down to cheer for ace batsman and vice captain Virat Kohli but Umesh Yadav’s wife Tanya is here along with Stuart Binny’s wife Mayanti. Mayanti langer is a sports show hostess and has been with the world cup since it started. Ajinkya Rahane’s wife Radhika will be arriving on match eve.