Team India sweats it out

After two days of rest, the Indian team hit the training ground again, ahead of its Group 2 meeting with Bangladesh at the ICC World Twenty20. The team sweated it out for over two hours at the practice facility here in Mirpur, playing a game of football — at which, it must be said, the captain M.S. Dhoni excelled — before getting into the nets.

Bowling coach Joe Dawes was seen working with Stuart Binny for a long time with the Karnataka all-rounder bowling at a dummy batsman. Yuvraj Singh was out there early, batting alongside the openers, while Amit Mishra sent down his looping leg-breaks.

Having won its first two matches, India will virtually qualify for the semifinals with victory here on Friday.

Unique exercise Meanwhile, on a day of festivities in the capital, the Bangladesh team participated in a unique exercise.

On the occasion of the 43rd anniversary of Independence, over two lakh people — it was estimated — gathered at the National Parade Grounds here to sing the Bangladeshi national anthem in an attempt to set a ‘world record’.

The cricketers did not travel to the venue but joined in from the Sher-e-Bangla stadium, watching a live feed of the event on a giant screen. “At 11 a.m., all the players, staff and the board president sang the national anthem,” said the team’s operations manager Sabbir Khan.