The Hindu : Sport : Indian team members arrive for practice games

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Friday, Sep 08, 2006

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Indian team members arrive for practice games

Special Correspondent

BIG BASH: Harbhajan Singh joins the birthday celebrations of bio-mechanist Ian Frazer in Chennai on Thursday. — PHOTO: V. Ganesan

Chennai: The members of the Indian cricket team arrived here in batches on Thursday. The side, which leaves for Kuala Lumpur on Saturday to take part in the DLF Cup tri-nation series, will play two practice games at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on September 8 and 9.

The 15-man squad has been joined by Tejinder Pal Singh, Robin Uthappa, V.R.V. Singh, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik and S. Badrinath for the matches here. The players would be split into two groups, and if needed, one of the local cricketers might be drafted in.

Both the contests would be day matches (9.30 a.m. start) with each side playing 50 overs.

Curator K. Parthasarathy said the pitch would favour the batsmen.

"We have just left a little grass on the surface and we have to see if the teams want it to remain. This is a hard pitch and the ball should come on to the bat. There could be some assistance for the pacemen early on, after which the batsmen could dominate."

Paceman Ajit Agarkar and opener Robin Uthappa had a training session at the MAC Stadium late afternoon. Agarkar said: "The pitch appears a belter. There should be lots of runs in it." He appeared in good spirits and had words of encouragement for a younger member of his tribe — Singh — in the evening.

Happy Birthday Frazer

Earlier, the cricketers received a warm welcome, both at the airport and at the team hotel. There was a brief celebration too at the hotel on the occasion of bio-mechanist Ian Frazer's 40th birthday.

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, a blithe spirit, smattered Frazer's smiling face with cake. Greg Chappell said, "We have known each other for 20 years. Ian is doing a fantastic job with the Indian team. He is very important to what we do."

Harbhajan was delighted to be back in the city. "I have happy memories here. We won that historic series against Australia here in 2001. The M.A. Chidambaram Stadium has always been special to me. The crowds are terrific too."

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