Bangalore: The best in the business prepare quietly for tougher battles and Mahendra Singh Dhoni is no exception to the rule. The wicket-keeper batsman and former captain is going through a daily rigorous schedule at the NCA to prepare for the upcoming England tour, far from the public glare.
Sachin Tendulkar during his last few years in international cricket would train all by himself at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai and Dhoni’s training session Monday at NCA looked similar. He faced hundreds of deliveries with 70 per cent being throw-downs. He had earlier passed the YoYo test, June 15.
Dhoni was helped out by Indian team’s throw down expert Raghu and paceman Shardul Thakur. Later on they were joined by Siddharth Kaul of Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The two-and-half-hours were an intense session with Dhoni facing Raghu’s customary throw-downs from 18 yards and Thakur’s deliveries in between.
He would call up Shardul and ask him about his imaginary field placings. Shardul would be seen pointing at imaginary field positions like mid-wicket, extra-cover and deep fine-leg. Dhoni would play shots accordingly. After every few deliveries, he had words of advice for Shardul, who listened intently.
The reflexes were certainly not the same as it used to be a couple of years back. There were a lot of play and miss but whenever Dhoni middled a ball it did make a beautiful sound.
Once the session was over, he found out a couple of scribes watching his session. “Bhanak laag gaya (So you got the whiff that I am here),” he smiled at one of them as he disappeared inside the confines of NCA dressing room.