It’s action time!

By Paritosh Pramanik

THERE was a serene calmness with just a few policemen standing at a paan kiosk at the turning of the Jamtha cricket stadium on Nagpur-Hyderabad Highway. But as one moved towards the stadium the men in ‘khakhi’ multiplied into hundreds. The 45,000 capacity stadium was readying to take shape of a fortress. It will resemble one when the much-hyped One-Dayer between India and Australia will begin on Wednesday at 1.30 pm.
As the teams slugged out a day prior to the match in the nets the policemen deployed at the stadium took the opportunity to capture the cricketing heroes from close distance in their smartphones.
More than 500 policemen were enjoying Indian team’s nets session. Most of them, laced with smartphones, were busy capturing their favourite cricketer in their mobiles. There was no public to guard and the men in ‘khakhi’ used the opportunity to savour the moment.
However, the situation would be exactly different on Wednesday when India and Australia square up in what is called a do-or-die game for India.
Indian team is trailing the seven-match series 1-2 and a win here at Nagpur would keep them alive in the series. 
The tranquillity of the area would be replaced by boisterous fans who would descend at the venue to cheer Team India. To support Men in Blue, spectators from Nagpur and nearby areas and states would occupy their seats well in advance, hours before the start.
The stage is set for the all-important game.
After clearing all the hurdles which came in the way of hosting this ODI, VCA officials are more than satisfied with the huge response from the spectators.
It’s a sold-out game and it would be deafening on Wednesday when Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men walk out in the middle.
Both the teams had their last practice sessions on Tuesday with India occupying the field first. 
Unlike Monday, the nets session was not that rigorous.
While the batsmen batted in the nets spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and seamers Mohd Shami and R Vinay Kumar had an extended session at the 22-yard strip adjacent to the main wicket. 
All the bowlers were seen targeting single stump under the watchful eyes of bowling coach Joe Dawes.
Ashwin later said it was not any special session for the bowlers. “It is not about any special session. We needed to do something specific for our own self rather than just go in there and keep bowling to the batter. We thought that we needed a bit of a break, needed a change in the way we are practising,” he said adding, “So we thought that we will try and do some spot bowling, try and take the onus away from what the batsman is doing. We were trying to work on more mental space, a good space to be in before a game.”
Later in the afternoon session, it was Australians who did their nets. 
Hard-hitting batsman Shane Watson and others were given throw downs and they clobbered balls into the stands on numerous occasion.
The same might be seen on Wednesday from batsmen from both the side as the track looks like a batsmen’s paradise.
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ROHIT’S DILEMMA
After the net session in the morning Rohit Sharma was all eager to catch the action between Mumbai and Haryana in the Ranji Trophy. The match, under way at Lahli in Haryana, is being telecast live. Rohit, a key Mumbai player, wanted to follow his team’s fortunes but the television set in the dressing room had only one channel that was re-running an old game.
Rohit tried his best himself, changing the channels, and then requesting the officials at the dressing room but to no avail. He could catch up the action live only after returning to the team hotel.
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60 buses to Jamtha
FOR the convenience of spectators, 60 star buses would ply on match day from Sitabuldi to Jamtha and back on Wednesday starting from 11 am. The one way fare will be Rs 20 per person. Two buses would start from VCA Civil Lines Stadium at 11 am while 30 buses would start from Bhagini Mandal, Variety Square from 11 00 am onwards.
All the buses will start returning from Jamtha to Sitabuldi after completion of the match.