Suresh Raina, Ashwin have field day at practice

Putting behind the loss against South Africa, members of Team India swung back into action on Wednesday as they resumed training for their final Group B league encounter against West Indies, to be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday.

After taking a day’s break since arriving in Chennai on Monday, seven members of the team landed up for training at the IIT Chemplast ground.

The players who came for the optional training session were Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla and local boy Ravichandran Ashwin.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who usually attends all of India’s training sessions, decided to give Wednesday’s session a miss, while Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir arrived here only on Wednesday evening.

With the top batsmen taking a break from the training, it turned out to be a field day for Suresh Raina, who is most likely to make it to the playing XI for Sunday’s encounter.

Raina was seen batting for a long time and he played shots all across the ground. He was cheered on by a group of hundred people, who had gathered around the fence to watch the cricketers practice. After batting against both spinners and pacers, Raina also faced a few throw-downs from coach Gary Kirsten.

Meanwhile, Ashwin, who was the first to arrive, must have felt at home at the ground. He grew up playing on this ground, when he featured for Jolly Rovers Club in the local league.

Yet to play his first game in the tournament, Ashwin had a long practice session. After sending down his tweakers to Virat Kohli and Raina, he bowled at the wickets in an empty net under the guidance of bowling coach Eric Simons. The youngster then batted for a while.

Meanwhile, India will begin their compulsory practice sessions only on Thursday afternoon. However, the team will also be keeping a close watch on the England-West Indies encounter since a Caribbean win against England would seal India’s place in the last-eight even before their match against Darren Sammy’s men on Sunday.