World Cup 2015: Pakistan trio warm up with 'marble slab' batting session
Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal and Sohaib Maqsood played on a marble slab to prepare for Australia's top-quality bowling attack in the quarter-finals.
Pakistan's young batsmen Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal and Sohaib Maqsood reportedly underwent a 'special batting practice session' on Wednesday that lasted an hour, ahead of their crunch World Cup quarterfinal tie against AustraliaTeam head coach Waqar Younis along with batting coach Grant Flower and assistant coach Shahid Aslam reportedly arrived at the Adelaide Oval net area an hour before the scheduled practice session. They supervised the specific training given to the three young batsmen in order to prepare them for the imposing challenge of left-arm Australian quicks, The Dawn reported.
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Leading wicket taker at the World Cup, Mitchell Starc, alongside Australia's veteran pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson,James Faulkner and Pat Cummins, would form a big test for Pakistan batsmen. Aslam reportedly used a large marble slab to test the three youngsters with short-pitched bowling aimed at preparing Shehzad, Umar and Sohaib.
Younis admitted that they provided the young trio 'special training' and added that it is an 'old practice' to prepare batsmen against fast bowlers. He insisted that all three are very 'talented batsmen' and now is the time for them to 'produce a big show' in the game against Australia.