A bit of laughter drifted across the ICC Academy outfield on Tuesday evening, broken only by the occasional thud of a cricket ball hitting leather or turf. India had already booked their place in the Asia Cup Super Fours, yet no one appeared in any mood to coast.
“Great fielders don’t dive,” Hardik Pandya joked after plucking a sharp, left-handed chance drilled by fielding coach T Dilip. The drill, half-penalty shoot-out and half-slip catching, gave each player five goes before passing the gloves on. Pandya’s first take was a stunner; the next three burrowed into the turf despite his best efforts, leaving Dilip to announce the all-rounder’s score with playful solemnity while Tilak Varma stepped up to “keep goal”.
Telugu soon replaced Hindi as Arshdeep Singh channelled a late-night radio commentator, applauding Tilak’s full-length dives with shouts of “chala bagundi”. Even the on-looking journalists earned a mention when Jasprit Bumrah strolled in. “Point again, coach?” he asked, grinning over his shoulder. “Reel content coming for you guys!”
It was light-hearted, but not loose. Once the catching finished, the nets got properly serious. Temperatures had slipped from the brutal 40°C that greeted the tournament’s first week but 35-odd and humid is still punishing, particularly with back-to-back four-hour sessions. Sanju Samson, Axar Patel and Pandya, none of whom have batted in the middle yet, took long turns. Later, Rohit Sharma and company launched balls into nearby shrubbery; a couple ended up so deep among the palm trees that the net bowlers gave up the chase.
From behind the mesh Gautam Gambhir and Ryan ten Doeschate observed quietly, arms folded, occasionally passing a word or two but largely letting the hitters solve their own puzzles. Rinku Singh found life toughest. Harshit Rana’s awkward bounce had him poking and missing; Arshdeep did much the same. Then Bumrah arrived. Short run, then a proper sprint. Anything on Rinku’s hips disappeared, yet anything on a good length nipped or climbed. After fifteen bruising minutes the left-hander yanked off his gloves and jogged timed shuttles to cool down.
Training finished, almost inevitably, with cake. Captain Suryakumar Yadav turned 35 and the travelling Indian press corps had arranged a small sponge. Kuldeep Yadav, icing on his face before the photographs were finished, insisted everyone squeeze in for a quick selfie.
Roughly 80 metres away, separated by a rope and a handful of security staff, Pakistan worked through their own preparations. Their qualification is not yet rubber-stamped, and the atmosphere reflected it. No music, no jokes, minimal media access. Babar Azam spoke briefly to the broadcasters – politely, if guardedly – about rectifying the middle-order wobble. Salman Agha, dismissed cheaply twice, spent the best part of an hour shadow-batting outside the net while Mohammad Nawaz fed him throw-downs.
Assistant coach Azhar Mahmood kept a stopwatch in hand, capping each bowler’s spell at 25 balls. “We want energy in short bursts,” he explained, “not 60 half-paced deliveries.” Shaheen Afridi found late swing under the lights and produced a handful of unplayable yorkers that drew modest applause from the small knot of team-mates, but no cheering. A senior player described the session as “quietly urgent”.
There is, inevitably, talk about the gulf between the two sides. Former opener Aakash Chopra reckons the Indian bench is “two, maybe three players deeper”, while ex-Pakistan quick Wahab Riaz counters that wickets in hand could narrow that gap on match day. Fair points from both; the proof will arrive soon enough.
By nine-thirty the outfield lights shut down. India’s spare balls were gathered from bushes; Pakistan’s were counted back into the bag. Two camps, two very different moods, the same uncompromising workload. The Super Fours begin on Friday, and however relaxed the jokes might sound, neither side wants to enter that phase under-prepared.
“Reel content coming for you guys!” Bumrah had promised earlier. He might just have delivered – only it’s not the social-media clip that matters, but whether India and Pakistan can translate practice intensity into points when it counts.
