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Mahendra Singh Dhoni reintroduces the helicopter shot

When did you last see Mahendra Singh Dhoni execute one of those ‘helicopter’ shots of his? In South Africa? Nay! Was it against New Zealand?

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When did you last see Mahendra Singh Dhoni execute one of those ‘helicopter’ shots of his? In South Africa? Nay! Was it against New Zealand?

No chance! Maybe he used it against the Aussies. Well, he didn’t! One can’t remember the last time Dhoni swivelled his muscular arms in ‘patented’ fashion on a cricket field. Only recently, the shot was ‘reborn’, all thanks to a TV commercial.

But on Thursday, the second day of the pre-World Cup camp at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, one saw Dhoni practising his all-time favourite shot against the spinners. And the ball went out of the ground on every occasion. Dhoni’s exploits set the tone as the Indian team slugged it out for over three hours.

As always, coach Gary Kirsten was in charge of the proceedings. Knowing well that pitches in the subcontinent favour spinners, Kirsten had custom-made strips at his disposal. While the first pitch was meant for pacers, spinners were asked to use the second. Kirsten used the third to bombard the batsmen with short deliveries. The batsmen came in groups of three, with Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir up front. While Tendulkar looked in imperious form, Sehwag and Gambhir, both back from injury breaks, also looked comfortable.

Yuvraj Singh, Dhoni and Virat Kohli were up next, before Yusuf Pathan and Suresh Raina also had a hit. Kirsten tested Pathan with the short ball, and on one occasion, the South African managed to floor the all-rounder. ‘Batman’ Harbhajan Singh chose to hone his willow-wielding skills on the centre wicket!

The real star of the day, though, was Zaheer Khan. The pace spearhead bowled superbly, beating most of the batsmen on a number of occasions. While Zak ran in and bowled hard, Ashish Nehra chose to bowl with a shorter run up. Munaf, too, slugged it out.

Among spinners, R Ashwin was the most impressive. He bowled the carrom ball on more than one occasion and beat Gambhir quite a few times. Harbhajan and Piyush Chawla, too, bowled their hearts out.

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