Our season opener against the Delhi Capitals is exactly a week away. On 17th March, the boys continued to train at the Wankhede Stadium. Australian all-rounder Ben Cutting joined the team on March 16 and hit the ground running straight. On day six, take a deep dive into how things fared at our home ground.

Local boys join

Suryakumar Yadav, Siddhesh Lad and Aditya Tare — were all a part of the Mumbai team that played in the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. After a brief break, the trio joined the team in a bid to prepare for the upcoming season.

Surya is eager to turn things around in the 2019 IPL.

Suryakumar, our leading run-getter from last season, spoke about his willingness to turn things around quickly. The right-hander had a good run with the bat, scoring over 500-runs in a season where he was asked to open.

Spinners sneak in:

Mayank Markande and Anukul Roy also joined the team ahead of the upcoming season. Mayank has come a long way since last year. After making his IPL debut for us in the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League, the leg-spinner has had a prolific run playing for Punjab and India ‘A’ over a 10-month period.

Mayank Markande bowls during training.

This also helped him earn his first India cap. Mayank made his debut against Australia recently and has come back as an improved figure.

On the other hand, Anukul Roy too has had a decent run with Jharkhand. The left-hander has been his side’s utility man no matter what the format was.

Back home:

With plenty of faces joining in, full training has resumed at the Wankhede. On Sunday, the team got in a huddle before breaking for warm-ups. They also played football before hitting the nets.

We are scheduled to play Delhi Capitals on March 24 and Chennai Super Kings on April 03 in our first two home games as per the scheduled released by IPL for the first couple of weeks.

The boys are having a feel of the Wankhede turf again and are getting used to the conditions at home before the season begins under the tutelage of Mahela Jayawardene and Co.

Ishan, Hardik grind:

Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya went through heavy running drills. Both Ishan and Hardik are an integral part of the side. Ishan was spotted running with a tyre tied to him while Hardik, returning from an injury, also worked upon his fitness by running the hard yards.

Director of Cricket Operations Zaheer Khan shares some tips with left-arm seamer Barinder Sran.

Nets, play:

Every member present at the training from the team got a good crack at the team nets. Aditya Tare, Suryakumar Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya and Ishan Kishan padded up to bat while the likes of Anukul Roy, Mayank Markande and Jayant Yadav took the white ball in their hands.

Barinder Sran also joined the likes of Mitchell McClenaghan and Ben Cutting to bowl seam-ups.
Overall, all players had a good, full net session to their names by the end of the day.

Post nets, high-catches and fielding drills saw an end to a hard working day of training at the pre-season camp.

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