Rival teams have strenuous workout at Eden Gardens

With just two days left for the second Test to get underway on Sunday, both the Australian and Indian teams had a strenuous workout at the Eden Gardens to get acclamatised to the conditions in Kolkata.

The Australians, who flew into the city from New Delhi last night, had a practice session in the morning while the Indians reached the stadium in the afternoon and practiced till 6 pm.

Significantly, the Australians asked for the services of two left arm pace bowlers to bowl to their batsmen, obviously keeping in mind that the hosts have two left arm seamers Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra in the squad.

The visitors, led by captain Steve Waugh, had a close look at the Eden Gardens pitch immediately after reaching the stadium and spent some time inspecting it.

The Indians, most of whom had a workout yesterday also, reached the venue at 2.30 pm and had a lengthy session at the nets under the watchful eye of coach John Wright.

Vice-captain Rahul Dravid, however, did not attend the session as he is down with a sore throat and slight fever. "It is not something very serious. He should be fit to attend the practice session tomorrow," team manager Chetan Chauhan said.

Captain Saurav Ganguly, who has not been in the best of form with the bat, was seen batting even after the session till poor light forced him to return to the dressing room. Venkatesh Prasad and Ashish Nehra, both of whom have staged a comback to the squad, bowled to him.