Indian Match Practice Report From Australia
India spent the day practicing at the MCG with crowds already coming to see the visitors, confirming once again that this is The series as far as this summer goes in Australia



Here is what the individual players did

Dhoni spent the day giving some interviews, and saying things which were a bit immature to say the least.
When asked if he thought that a decline in the bounce and speed of Australian wickets might aid the Indians during their tour, Dhoni laughed and said, however low and slow they got, they would still raise the hairs on a batsman's neck when compared to even the fastest Indian tracks. "We faced a lot of swing music when we went to England," he said recently."
"Every country specialises in something and Australia is famous for bouncy tracks, like England is for swing and India for spin bowling." "So when you go to any country, the challenges that you face are different. You have to play well over a period of time and adapt quickly.""Australia, anywhere in the world, is the biggest challenge." "Whether it's Test match cricket, one-day cricket or Twenty20, they are the leaders right now and they play good, consistent cricket for a long period and that's why they're the best team in the world."
He then strapped on and hit some balls out of the park
Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh showed they were still suffering from the effects of a long flight the day before by heading out to the centre wicket. Ground staff sent them in the right direction.

The net session was a sight to behold. The batsmen pogoed about like punks in a St Kilda pub circa 1978.

When they weren't jumping, they were flailing or failing to make convincing contact.

Every now and then there was the dull sound of leather connecting with flesh closely followed by a muffled groan.

Flies are so bad in Melbourne this year it won't be long before Chanel is doing a repellent to keep local trendsetters comfortable and perfumed.

Until then, Sourav Ganguly did his bit by swatting repeatedly outside off stump with the enormous piece of willow that passes for his cricket bat.

Let's hope he was killing flies, because god knows he wasn't making much contact with many cricket balls.

RP Singh, a local net bowler, and long-tall teenage quick Ishant Sharma had the former captain swishing and swatting but rarely connecting.

Ganguly went into the net session with a new bat and went out with one, although he did get a couple of leading edges to Anil Kumble's leg-spinners.

Tendulkar batted with more success in the next net, but on the far side poor old Yuvraj Singh copped a couple of nasty blows that saw him limp away in pain.

All the batters were finding things too hot to handle with only the bowlers moving with any conviction.


The first practice match begins tomorrow against Victoria.

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