Dhoni’s T20 form has been into question since last couple of months, from IPL Season 2 specifically. Dhoni was unable to play the spinners and the seamers as well during the practice session at Lady Bay Ground near Trent Bridge on Monday, and even his stumps were knocked down once. After trying hard, he was not only able to middle a few but also hit his trademark helicopter scoops (shots) more than a couple of times.

Still the worry wasn’t over. Interestingly a gentleman named Gary Stanyer was continuously keeping an eye on MSD’s practice sessions and once Dhoni got over with his net practice, he was seen chatting with Mr. Stanyer. Gary Stanyer represents Spyder Bats and was carrying a handful of willows for the Indian Captain. Mr. Stanyer later stated that whenever MS is in UK, he asks him to get these special bats for him.

The bats looked really meaty, especially on the edges and in the middle, thus are ideal for power-hitting, a pre-requisite for T20 cricket. Dhoni picked up few of the bats and tried his swings and shots with them. He looked pretty satisfied with the bats as he had a smile on his face after trying his hands on the bats.

Mr. Stanyer was asked a much anticipated question, “How were the new bats different from the one Dhoni uses in India? And he said, ‘‘these are quite different and whenever he is in the UK, he calls me up and asks for these bats. They weigh about 2 pounds 11 ounces. They look really heavy as they have a big edge and are really meaty in the centre. But they are very light and easy to pick up and swing’’.

Also when asked about receiving requests from other Indian players for the bats, he said, ‘‘No. Right now, it’s just Dhoni who is using them. But a couple of the Irish players seem to be interested. I’ll give it to them, provided they let Dhoni make a lot of runs with this one on Wednesday’’.

While about the other Indian players, here is a brief on their practice session:

• Suresh Raina looked very good as he middled every delivery he faced. He even hit a huge six, almost near to the media camp, watching the practice session.

• Yuvraj Singh as usual looked extremely aggressive and more so after the praise he cot last week from his friend Kevin Pietersen. He was also seen trying quite a few switch-hits.

• Zaheer bowling stint was very small as he is still under recovery phase, where as Rohit Sharma, Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh were on an off from the practice session.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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