Suresh Raina's Bizarre Fielding Drills

The players start off with a huddle at deep midwicket. Raina then invites the players to follow the exact trajectory of his favourite 6s, and takes the huddle ‘beyond the boundary’ into the stands.

He then recites the poem he wrote as a cub cricketer

Beyond the mid wicket boundary I will hit the ball hard
Har! Har! Har!
Beyond the mid wicket boundary into the stands, hard
Har! Har! Har!
There she sits waiting to catch me
But she’ll have to train harder
Har! Har! Har!

When the players look quizzically at him, he will distract them with some new-age fielding drills – throwing the balls randomly for players and dogs to fetch. To inject playfulness, Raina will have cricketers compete with dogs.

When the dogs out-fetch the cricketers, there will be an analysis of Afridi’s ball biting. This will be followed with the players pouncing on balls, like dogs, with their mouths. To inject more playfulness, the cricketers will have new names assigned to them, these will vary depending on their skills.

A good fielder will be called Sultan while a bad one will be called Salah Kutta.

(to be continued)