Cricket is a team sport and all the eleven players on the field have to act like a single unit for the team’s success. India are currently gearing up for the much-awaited Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against Australia. Ahead of the first match, which will kick-start from Friday in Perth, India fielding coach T Dilip engaged the Indian players in a unique drill. In order to strengthen the team bonding, Dilip asked the players to align in different positions and perform a relay throw.

Talking about this practice, the fielders were asked to get positioned at different spots. Then one fielder from the boundary would throw the ball to second fielder, who would then aim to hit the wickets.

In the practice session video, which was posted on BCCI.TV, star batter Virat Kohli was seen responding to a teammates’ suggestion. A teammate was heard saying, “Thoda encourage karo’ (keep encouraging each other).” To this, Kohli immediately says, “Kyu karein? Aur kam maaro udhar’ (Why should we? Throw it more towards them).”

Regarding this session, coach T Dilip expressed his satisfaction and stated that players positively responded to his idea and it turned out to be really fruitful.

“The drill is very simple. Whoever throws first will be getting one point. What we wanted to do today was want everyone to get together and closer to the match in terms of what we wanted. So that is why today’s team drill was more related to retrieving where a fielder at the boundary throws the ball to the in-fielder. So instead of one long throw, we wanted to have two flat throws,” Dilip said while speaking to BCCI.tv.

“Today, after the session, you can see that I am very happy. The players have really put up the intensity. So, by now, I get a sense of the team and how they work around. That is why I always prepare a little competition first to start with so that after the warm-up they kick off having their fun, laughter and getting together,” said Dilip.