World Cup 2019: Kedar Jadhav all smiles after long batting session

India's Kedar Jadhav during a training session in Southampton. Pic/Suman Chattopadhyaya

Team India, who will kick off their World Cup campaign against South Africa on June 5 here, had their first practice session yesterday. While the top order batsmen spent a considerable amount of time in the nets, Kedar Jadhav, whose training was hampered due to a shoulder injury, went through a longer grind. He looked comfortable throughout and was all smiles thereafter.

Captain Kohli was the most fluent batsman on view. The crisp sound from his willow suggested that he was timing almost everything perfectly. He did have a couple of misses though. South African-born pacer Zak Bess, brother of ex-England bowler Dominic, and one of the net bowlers here, was thrilled when he had Kohli chop one onto the stumps.

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Pace ace Bhuvneshwar

Kumar practised bowling to the stumps (without a batsman) under the keen observation of head coach Ravi Shastri. Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah were seen working out with Team India's strength and conditioning coach Shanker Basu. There was an interesting new member too - one of the security dogs at the venue here. Whenever an Indian batsman hit the ball at a distance, the mischievious doberman would run off to collect it.

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