Ahead of the pink-ball Test against England at the newly-built Motera Stadium on 24 February, the Indian team is leaving no stone unturned in its practice. The Indian team led by skipper Virat Kohli took part in the training session for the third game of the series. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) shared the pictures of the training session in a tweet. “Snapshots from #TeamIndia’s training session at the Motera ahead of the pink-ball Test,” it said.
With India all set to play their first game at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, England and India players who have begun training here are also wowed by the size of the stadium with a sitting capacity of 1,10,000. It is the world’s largest cricket stadium.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya said that he feels proud to have such a facility in the country and said he is eager to have fans in the stadium for the pink-ball match. “To be honest, surreal to be at the world’s largest stadium, we cannot wait to have fans around and see the atmosphere, all the boys loved it, it took us around one hour to get used to the size of the stadium. I feel very proud that we have this stadium in India. I have not seen a gym connected to the dressing room, this is the first time I am seeing a dressing room having a connected gym,” Pandya said in a video posted on the BCCI’s official website.
Cheteshwar Pujara added that the gym facility next to the dressing room is very useful for the players. “It is an amazing feeling, it is a huge stadium and we all are looking forward to playing our first pink-ball Test at Motera. The gym is next to the dressing room so it is useful to the guys,” Pujara said.
Meanwhile, opener Rohit Sharma has said that he expecting the new wicket at the renovated and refurbished Motera stadium to help the spinners in the third Test just like the one in the second Test. “I don’t see anything changing in the pitch to what we played in the second Test match. It is going to be more or less similar. It is going to be turning as well. Yes, we are preparing according to that. When the day comes we need to still assess the pitch and what it is going to be like,” said Sharma while talking to the media on Sunday.
“Focus (during the practice on Monday) will be on lights and new seats as they will be shiny. We will have a long day tomorrow. We will get used to slip catching and outfield catching. Every new ground you go to, you try to get used to those lights, the surroundings, the atmosphere in the ground… everyone will do 10-20 minutes of individual preparation to get used to outfield and the lights,” he added.
The India opener, who hit 161 in the first innings of the second Test to take the initiative away from England and help his team win, said that they are only thinking about the next Test and are not thinking too much about the World Test Championship (WTC) final. India need to win at least two Tests in the series and also win the series to qualify for the WTC final. The series is level at 1-1.
“You just have to focus on the process and not think too far ahead. If you are thinking too far ahead, it puts you under pressure. If you try and stay in present, I don’t think you will feel that pressure. It is a five-day game, so the focus and pressure changes every day. I think it is very important to stay in the moment and think what we need to do on that given day. It is important to focus on little, little things and when you do those little things right, it will eventually add up to what you want to achieve,” said Sharma.
