{ "id": "32273", "author": "13", "cnmid": "0", "title": "INDvsSL: India toil hard at Eden ahead of Sri Lanka Test", "lang": "en", "series": "320", "cup_year": "2017", "article_type": "General", "excerpt": "Kolkata, Nov 13 (CRICKETNMORE): India's premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who was out of international cricket for the past three months, was on Monday seen practising wrong 'uns while skipper Virat Kohli played a lot of bouncers bowled at him with", "subtype": "", "editor1": "

Kolkata, Nov 13 (CRICKETNMORE):<\/strong> India's premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who was out of international cricket for the past three months, was on Monday seen practising wrong 'uns while skipper Virat Kohli played a lot of bouncers bowled at him with coloured balls during India's first practice session ahead of the three-match Test rubber against Sri Lanka.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Sans Saurashtra players Ravindra Jadeja and Cheteshwar Pujara who played their round five Ranji Trophy match against Gujarat, the entire Indian team sweated it out for nearly two and a half hours in the afternoon.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The batsmen also played a lot of reverse sweeps at the nets, with Ajinkya Rahane spending the most time with the bat.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

"It's how you react to a particular ball. It's not that we have planned differently for a particular bowler. There's no compulsory shot like that," wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha told reporters on the sidelines of India's first practice session at the Eden Gardens here.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Besides Kohli who was given throwdowns with a yellowish ball by batting coach Sanjay Bangar, other batsmen also played a lot of bouncers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Saha said the focus is not on South Africa and they want to win this series first. Pujara had said a few days back that this would present a good opportunity for the No. 1 side to prepare for the Proteas challenge.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

India will play three Tests, six ODIs and three T20 internationals against the Proteas. The first Test is on January 5 in Cape Town.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka coach Nic Pothas, captain Dinesh Chandimal and the other team management staff inspected the Eden Gardens wicket.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Batting coach Thilan Samaraweera, bowling coach Rumesh Ratnayake and team manager Asanka Gurusinha had a good look at the 22-yard strip which had a lot of grass on it, which was later removed on the instructions of the India team management.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) pitch curator Sujan Mukherjee and East zone curator Ashish Bhowmick were seen having a chat with the home team coach. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

"The pitch looks good but there is a lot of grass on it," Pothas told reporters while leaving the stadium.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Chandimal was seen in a relaxed mood in denims and shorts.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The tourists cancelled their training this morning after playing a two-day warm-up game against Board President's XI. The match ended in a tie but four Lankan batsmen notched up half centuries.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Chandimal and co were blanked 9-0 across all formats by India in their own backyard in August this year. They won 2-0 against Pakistan in the longest format of the game in the UAE but lost all limited overs matches. <\/p>\r\n", "image": "https:\/\/img.cricketnmore.com\/uploads\/2017\/11\/India-Eden-Gardens.jpg", "alt_img": "INDvsSL: India toil hard at Eden ahead of Sri Lanka Test", "alt_title": "INDvsSL: India toil hard at Eden ahead of Sri Lanka Test", "image1": "", "video": "", "seo_title": "INDvsSL: India toil hard at Eden ahead of Sri Lanka Test on Cricketnmore.", "seo_desc": " India's premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who was out of international cricket for the past three months, was on Monday seen practising wrong", "seo_keywords": "Indian Cricket Team, India vs Sri Lanka, India vs Sri Lanka Test Series", "tag": "", "tagging": "Indian Cricket Team,India vs Sri Lanka,India vs Sri Lanka Test Series,", "status": "1", "img_rpt": "0", "google": "1", "standout": "0", "edapps": "0", "pulse": "0", "no_index": "0", "feed": "0", "fixture": "0", "slug": "INDvsSL: India toil hard at Eden ahead of Sri Lanka Test", "user_id": "0", "read_count": "0", "ians_date": "0000-00-00", "ians_time": "00:00:00", "server_time": "0000-00-00 00:00:00", "trash": "0", "view_count": "2379", "page_break": "0", "instant_articles": "1", "auto_link": "0", "created": "2017-11-13 19:18:05", "updated": "0000-00-00 00:00:00", "img_from": "", "img_source": "", "schedule_publish": "0000-00-00 00:00:00", "news_keywords": null, "livescore_text": null, "livescore_link": null, "btn_text": null, "resend_feed": "0", "google_feed": "0", "read_more": "0", "posted_by": "1", "jio_date": "2017-11-13 19:18:05", "scheduled": "0", "news_now": "1", "breaking_news": "0", "google_date": "2017-11-13 19:18:05", "featured": "0", "pred_match_id": null, "article_content_type": null, "link": "https:\/\/www.cricketnmore.com\/cricket-news\/INDvsSL-India-toil-hard-at-Eden-ahead-of-Sri-Lanka-Test-32273" }