SPORTS | Monday, November 23, 2009 | Email | Print | 
Zaheer skips practice
PTI | Kanpur
Zaheer Khan could not be spotted, Yuvraj Singh didn't bat and Harbhajan Singh fooled around as an air of casual leisure breezed through the Indian cricket team's practice session ahead of their second Test against Sri Lanka here on Tuesday.
Comeback man Zaheer, who looked impressive in the first Test in Ahmedabad, was conspicuous by his absence in the nets on Sunday even though his new ball colleague Ishant Sharma sweated it out.
S Sreesanth, having played his last at the same venue against South Africa last year, also bent his back in the nets to trouble the likes of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman.
Yuvraj Singh, meanwhile, was content bowling what the then England captain Kevin Pietersen had ridiculed as "left-arm filth" and then getting some catching practice with tennis ball.
In stark contrast, Tendulkar had a prolonged session elsewhere with coach Gary Kirsten who kept throwing at the veteran batsman. Once Tendulkar was through, Sehwag and Laxman also faced Kirsten to fine-tune their game.
Amid heavy security presence, Sri Lankan cricketers sweated it out at the nets to prepare for the second cricket Test against India starting here on November 24. There was a breach of security at the stadium on Saturday when a man carrying a gun had entered the premises hours after the two teams landed in the city.
The drawn first Test's double-centurion Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan and skipper Kumar Sangakkara did some batting practice with local bowlers. Star off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis later bowled for a while.
The opening match of the series in Ahmedabad had ended in a draw.
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