Another fiery practice session - Feroz Shah Kotla

RCB play ball again prior to the match against the Delhi Daredevils.

Zaheer Khan had a controlled bowling stint and settled down to have a gotarade. Virat Kohli joined him. Soon Evans Speechly (Physio) came up to ask if they needed anything. Johan van der Wath finished a bowling stint in the other net and joined them for a  tete a tete. They however, kept on eye on the proceedings, mostly to get a measure of everybody but of course to keep a lookout for flying missiles!

Venky Prasad was his usual versatile self as the multi lingual former test cricketer and RCB bowling coach ensured the ground staff deployed the ball boys correctly; so many balls were disappearing into the stands and their retrieval costing 2-3 minutes that it might affect the continuity for the batsman. Soon, things looked more assured and the lanky ex India pacer shelled out his wisdom to the young bowlers.

When Cheteshwar Pujara first reported to the RCB nets this IPL season, the clean shaven look had confused people. For most people who saw last saw him on the international stage during a Test match against Australia (he’s very much in the reckoning of course for Tests), the ‘boy’ had grown a beard. 

And then a few days later, the beard was back, resulting in familiar nods whenever the Saurashtra lad passed by fans at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru

Again he wore a clean look and confused some onlookers at the Kotla. The Kotla’s dressing rooms are surely a little unique. They are not at a perfectly straight view of the ‘bowler’s arm’ and in addition, the path to the ground gives the impression of the tunnel that is associated with football stadiums. Well, grounds are unique in their own way – we hear of a club ground in England where the batsmen has to cross the signal to go out to bat because the pavilion is across the road! Think they make an exception of the ‘timed out’ rule!

So, a good day in the ‘field’ again for the RCB lads brimming in confidence.