Indian cricket team practices hard in Bangalore

The Indian cricket team was seen sweating hard on the practice ground in Bangalore for the tri-series in Sri Lanka, featuring New Zealand from September 8-14.

Bangalore, Aug 30 : The Indian cricket team was seen sweating hard on the practice ground in Bangalore for the tri-series in Sri Lanka, featuring New Zealand from September 8-14.

It was the third day of the four-day conditioning camp on Saturday, which was held under the vigilant eyes of coach Gary Kirsten, fielding coach Robin Singh and trainer Ramji Srinivasan.

Apart from the regular exercise sessions, the players played football, which is also a part of their fitness regime.

India has recalled Rahul Dravid to the one-day team for the first time in almost two years to bolster their batting in Lanka and on pacy South African pitches during the September 22-October 5 Champions Trophy.

Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar has also returned after opting out of the one-day series in the West Indies, which India won 2-1 last month.

Ishant Sharma will spearhead the five-man pace attack in the absence of experienced left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan, who has been ruled out of action until the end of the year after surgery on an injured shoulder.

The selected team for Sri Lankan series includes Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Rudra Pratap Singh, Ishant Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra and Abhishek Nayar.

ANI