It was a sight the curious media would have loved to lap up. But Sourav Ganguly ensured that his latest drill-a truly jaw-dropping one by any standards-was strictly conducted without prying eyes around, at the Eden Gardens this morning.
Ever since last Monday when Shoiab Akhtar made a rousing comeback to international cricket with a scorching 4 for 43 against South Africa at Lahore, Ganguly has been desperately looking for ways to practice against fiery pace and bounce.
After a day of facing speed guns at the CAB's disposal, Ganguly today eventually came out with a surprise drill-merging cricket with lawn tennis. For over half an hour at Eden Gardens this morning, Ganguly was learning to fend off tennis balls, which were not being hurled at him, but actually were unleashed in the form of services-pure tennis style.
The drill, meant to develop the batsman's reflexes - like fending off and ducking darting, jumping deliveries - is the brainchild of the senior Bengal team's coach Bharathi Arun, who doubled up as the bowler, rather the service-man, for Ganguly, who was at the batting end.
Although this technique is new to Indian cricket, it is prevalent in Australia and South Africa.
Unlike practising with wet and heavy tennis balls, coach Arun used light, professional tennis balls, unleashing services at Ganguly, who was 22 yards away, facing the balls darting at him like typical aces in tennis.
Of course, Ganguly did also try out the more conventional version of tennis-ball cricket training, facing wet ones from close range. Coach Arun was his partner again, helping the left-hander out by hurling beamers at him from 12-13 yards.
Earlier in the day, the former India captain went through the paces with the Bengal team at their usual practice session, but it was his tennis-cricket drill later that pointed out how eager the veteran player was to perform against Pakistan.
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