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Team India looked in high spirits on Monday, with senior opening batsman Rohit Sharma getting everyone involved in a unique fun activity.
The squad was divided into two teams. Fielding coach R Sridhar was asked to hit a tennis ball in the air, with a player from one of the teams trying to get under it and bounce it off his helmet. Meanwhile, his teammates had to surround him and catch the ball off the bounce. The score was apparently calculated by the total number of these catches in limited turns for each team.
In a video uploaded by the BCCI, Rohit Sharma can be seen explaining the game's concept, followed by a couple of highly-competitive - and sometimes hilarious - rounds. Most of the squad members, including skipper Virat Kohli, vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane and wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant, participated.
You can watch the full video here.
In a brilliant gesture, Kohli and batting coach Vikram Rathour also asked the support staff to join in with the players in the activity after a few minutes. Rohit Sharma took on the duty of tossing the tennis ball for these rounds.
Rathour said after the activity:
"We were all seeing that it was a lot of fun. So I thought it would be a good idea if support staff also participated and we did. They were all very supportive and we even saw Paaji coming in and trying his best. So, good fun, great game to start the day with."
Rathour and Co. will be happy to see Kohli and Rahane participating in the game. Both were seen in the video donning the helmet and also taking a few superb catches. The duo missed the practice match against Durham for fitness reasons but now look set to take the field in the first India-England Test.
"The whole idea was to get everyone involved" - Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma also gave his views on the fun drill. He said the idea was to get every team member involved to kick off the training sessions for the day.
"It was very simple. I think the guys did a great job. It's a good way to start the day, you know, getting everybody involved was the whole idea and we had a bit of fun," said Rohit Sharma.
India and England will play 5 Tests, starting on August 4 at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.
