Practice diaries: AB de Villiers, Shivam Dube, Gurkeerat Singh Mann light up the night sky in Dubai

How long is long? Cricket has set a benchmark though, rewarding the batsman with a six. But there are sixes and then there are SIXES, which not just cross boundaries but leave a mark of confidence on a batsman’s mind and the hopefuls around think that the ‘touch’, the form has been found. A net session is a place where the form is assessed. Often in the past, captains have persisted with a batsman because the form was apparent in the net session and eventually started reflecting during matches.

Royal Challengers Bangalore are now entering that phase of practice where players are hitting SIXES. The big hitters of the squad members had a fruitful session which saw the ball flying to all the corners of the ground.

“It’s nice to be out in the middle. With open field, you can see the ball traveling around the ground. It’s very enjoyable,” said AB de Villiers who was in his elements tonking it to all the corners of the ground.

Head coach Simon Katich shared his observations and said that he was happy with how the session panned out, especially for the batsmen.

“In terms of the conditions, it was a bit tricky with the grass on the wicket. There was a bit of seam and swing movement just because there is a fresh wicket and it’s quite humid here so the bowlers did well but what stood out for me was that the batters applied themselves really well and a number of guys got in there, played proper cricket shots and got used to the wickets. You could tell this was there second hit. They have utilized the first fit a couple of days ago and tonight was good session for a number of good batsmen.”

Katich was also impressed with Gurkeerat Singh Mann’s ability to apply himself in the nets like he would in a match situation.

“(Gurkeerat) magnificent tonight. I think what is really impressive is that he has got into the nets and basically applied himself like he would in a match. It’s not always easy to do a lot of guys like to get in and hit balls all the time. But sometimes you got to get in there and construct your innings like in a game and that’s preparing him for what’s coming up.”

Shivam Dube felt that the team it’s been getting better by day for him and that how he was able to hit during the session was most enjoyable.

Apart from Gurkeerat, Dube and AB de Villiers, Chris Morris, and Pawan Negi too had a long-elaborated session, with both sending the ball into orbits as frequently as the RCB coaching staff would have liked them to.