In pics: MS Dhoni inspects Cuttack pitch ahead of 1st India vs Sri Lanka Twenty20
Posted December 20th, 2017, 11:00 AM IST
Dhoni headed straight to the 22-yard strip after dropping his kit bag and examined it minutely from both ends.
(Photo: AP)
(Photo: AP)
Moments earlier Rohit Sharma, who is standing in as captain in the absence of Virat Kohli, and coach Ravi Shastri had a close look of the pitch by removing the light green cover, which was in place to protect it from excessive drying.
In the only T20I played here on October 5, 2015 India collapsed for 92 to lose to South Africa.
But in an ODI, exactly 11 months ago, India and England aggregated more than 700 runs, with hundreds from Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh helping the team to a narrow win after it notched up up a mammoth 381 for six.
The pitch hasn't witnessed competitive cricket since then and to make matters worse, some football matches were played in the multipurpose stadium.
A few days ago, students from a club were made to use the pitch as a test event. According to an official, it was a two-paced wicket that aided bounce from one end.
He said, "Every effort is being made to produce a sporting wicket where at least 180 runs are scored."
He further said there would not be much dew to worry about.
Dhoni had the first feel of the surface. He had a brief net session and called a left-arm spinner to bowl at his pads. The World Cup winning former captain was the cynosure of India's two-hour training session as a crowd of about five- thousand turned up chanting 'Dhoni Dhoni'.
The Odisha Cricket Association had allowed free entry to some of the galleries opposite India's practice nets. The response was overwhelming as the galleries were all packed.
Having bagged the Tests series 1-0, India suffered a defeat in the first ODI before producing a 2-1 result. The second and third T20Is are slated to be held in Indore (December 22) and Mumbai (December 24).
- BATC: Indian women’s team reaches maiden final with 3-2 win over Japan
- India defeat England by 106 runs to level five-Test series 1-1
- FIR against gaming site, FB page as Tendulkar raises concerns over his deepfake video
- Telangana Sailors Shine at National Sailing Championships, Bag Medals
- Inaugural Edition of Indian Street Premier League to Begin from March 2
- Thrilled to welcome Hardik back home to Mumbai Indians, says Nita Ambani
- Techie dies of heart attack as India loses to Australia in World Cup final
- Carlos Alcaraz set to make ATP finals debut in Turin
- Pandya had hurt his left ankle while fielding of his own bowling in the game against Bangladesh in Pune on October 19
- Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek win their WTA Finals opening matches in straight sets
- Berlin to Host Germany's First Major WWE
- Para Asian Games: Gold rush continues as Deepthi Jeevanji clinches gold in women’s 400m-T20 final
- Indian cricket legend Bishan Singh Bedi passes away
- CWC 2023: After big ton, Warner credits IPL for success in ODIs
- India-Australia T20 set to dazzle Visakhapatnam
More Sports News
- Aditi Rao Hydari misses ‘Heeramandi’ event after wedding
- Bigg Boss winner Munawar Faruqui among 14 detained in Mumbai raid
- Mrunal Thakur follows ‘grandma diet,’ believes in not skipping meals
- Selena Gomez shares makeup-free selfies on Instagram
- Diljit collaborates with Saweetie for ‘Khutti’ Song, says ‘she just landed in Punjab’
- Malaika Arora, Arjun Kapoor, Richa, Ali Fazal, Farah, and more at KJo’s Bash
- Jamie Lever is ‘honoured’ to represent her heritage with Telugu debut film
- Janhvi and Aditya Roy Kapur shine on the ramp for Kalki at Lakme Fashion Week x FDCI
- I am fond of Kate Moss, says Diana Penty, about her fashion icon
- Kriti Kharbanda, Pulkit Samrat share pictures from dreamy wedding
A PHP Error was encountered
Severity: Warning
Message: file_get_contents(): http:// wrapper is disabled in the server configuration by allow_url_fopen=0
Filename: views/newsdetails.php
Line Number: 29
Backtrace:
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/application/views/newsdetails.php
Line: 29
Function: file_get_contents
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/application/controllers/News.php
Line: 135
Function: view
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/application/controllers/News.php
Line: 77
Function: newsdetails
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/index.php
Line: 315
Function: require_once
A PHP Error was encountered
Severity: Warning
Message: file_get_contents(http://www.indiaaffiliates.in/ads.php?size=300X250): failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found
Filename: views/newsdetails.php
Line Number: 29
Backtrace:
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/application/views/newsdetails.php
Line: 29
Function: file_get_contents
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/application/controllers/News.php
Line: 135
Function: view
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/application/controllers/News.php
Line: 77
Function: newsdetails
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/index.php
Line: 315
Function: require_once