Motera masala

Though the Indian team registered a hat-trick of bad days on the field, the body language of their players didn't reveal a defeatist attitude.

Motera masala

Football for Sree-Bhajji bonding
Though the Indian team registered a hat-trick of bad days on the field, the body language of their players didn't reveal a defeatist attitude.

Most of the squad members, barring Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan, had a half-hour game of football immediately after stumps. Such an exercise not only helps in cooling down the body, but also subconsciously ends up enhancing bonding between the players.

The team bonding exercise will obviously help as Harbhajan Singh and S Sreesanth involved in the slapgate during the inaugural Indian Premier League were part of the same team.

While Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and S Badrinath showed in ample measure that they had played a lot of football during their school days, guess who the two goalkeepers were? VVS Laxman and Ishant Sharma!

Green signal for traffic at Motera
The Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium could be the only stadium in India where traffic is allowed in the stadium's premises on match days, the primary reason being the massive land available to them. And if you have a media accreditation card, even your auto rickshaw is allowed till the very last security check at the media entrance.

Whenever an auto rickshaw enters the main gate, it also ends up helping some of the policemen at the entrance. Those security personnel who have to walk for 10 minutes to change their positions, ask the auto drivers for a lift.

Mishra in 200-run great bowlers club
Leg-spinner Amit Mishra became only the sixth Indian bowler to concede more than 200 runs in a Test innings. However, Mishra will feel better if he looks at the list of Indians to have 'performed' his 'feat'.

Barring Rajesh Chauhan, all in the list are former greats Vinoo Mankad (who conceded 200 plus runs twice), Kapil Dev, Bishan Singh Bedi and Anil Kumble.

What will also make Mishra feel better is his 25-ball vigil as a nightwatchman last evening.

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