Spinners put to the test at camp

The spinners at the ongoing cricket camp for the Indian probables were put to the test in a match situation by the Indian coach John Wright on the penultimate day of the preparatory camp for the three Test Australian series.

The six spinners - Sunil Joshi, Murali Kartik, Sairaj Bahutule, Narendra Hirwani, Venkatapathy Raju, Sharandeep Singh - bowled to five fielders on the off-side and one on the leg side and were told to bowl to this field. Wright was the lone slip with Vijay Dahiya behind the wickets.

Skipper Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Javagal Srinath and Ajit Agarkar batted in turns for 40 overs. Tendulkar also bowled 1.2 overs and gave away eight runs.

Raju and Sharandeep were the only two bowlers to take a wicket each during the game, which was officiated by International umpire, K.Murali.

Later in the evening, the spinners repeated the same format and also had some practice. Apart from the routine stint at the nets and fielding practice, physio Andrew Leipus gave an extra load of physical excercises to the campers in turns.

The camp ends with a long single session tomorrow, according to Wright.