The Green Park saw hundreds of policemen lined up at the edge of the 30-yard square as the Men in Blue warmed up with a game of football.
Cops' fan club
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The Green Park saw hundreds of policemen lined up at the edge of the 30-yard square as the Men in Blue warmed up with a game of football. But many cops, being cricket fans like most Indians, didn't have security on their mind. In fact, some of them were busy keeping the goal count of the football game as one of them was heard telling his colleague: "It's 4-3 in favour of Rahul Dravid's team".
Indians love cricket, but it doesn't mean all of us understand the game. This was highlighted yesterday when Ishant Sharma was batting in the nets. After clobbering a set of local bowlers, Ishant started receiving throw-downs from coach Gary Kirsten and his aide Paddy Upton.
The fast bowler was concentrating hard as he was fending off balls thrown at him at a lively pace. A group of three local fans was watching Ishant's batting effort keenly. Just as one thought that they were considering Ishant to be a contender for a nightwatchman if the need arose, one of them gave gyaan to his friends: "Ishant could be used as a pinch-hitter in the Test that's why he is working so hard on his batting."
Umps' warm-up
As the Indian team slugged it out in the nets, the umpires too prepared themselves for the rigours of Test match cricket. Nigel Llong and Tony Hill first learnt about the scorer's position and that of the third umpire and the match referee.
Later on, as the light started fading around 4.15 pm, Hill got the light metre out and started noting the reading every five minutes.
With Kanpur getting chillier and the sun starting to set early, it looks as if it would be difficult to extend the game beyond 4.30 pm. This means the teams will be under pressure to maintain a brisk overrate or lose out on a few precious overs.
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