Shane Warne makes guest appearance at SA nets

Imran Tahir had a long chat with Australian spin-legend Shane Warne at the Proteas' practice session.

Shane Warne with SA leggie Imran Tahir on Wednesday. (AP)

Players-turned-commentators spending their off-day in company of present-day cricketers at nets is a common sight on the international circuit. But still Australian spin-legend Shane Warne’s presence at the South African training session came as a surprise. As for the South Africans, set to play the spin-heavy Indian side on the dry Mirpur track on Friday, they weren’t complaining. Warne wasn’t invited, they say, but was welcomed whole-heartedly.

“Well, a lot of us guys were surprised to see him at the nets today. May be he was getting bored sitting at the hotel and came over to have a bowl,” opener Hashim Amla said.

There are a couple of factors that are expected to decide the India-SA first semi-final. The purchase that leggie Imran Tahir gets from the pitch and the way South African batsmen handle the in-form Indian spinners are the key areas that will decide this contest. Since Warne is based out of Mirpur for this tournament, he has first-hand information about the local conditions, an input that is priceless for the South Africans, who till now have been playing in Chittagong.

The South Africans have Allan Donald as their bowling coach but he can’t match Warne’s experience of spinning the ball on sub-continental wickets. The pace, trajectory and strategy happen to be as important as skills on the slow and low tracks. As was expected, Tahir had a long chat with Warne. Soon, the SA batsmen got a chance to bat against the crafty former spinner. With Amit Mishra on a wicket-taking spree in the tournament, facing Warne could have boosted the confidence of the South Africans.

For a team that hasn’t won a knock-out match in an ICC tournament since the late 90s, it remains to be seen how Warne’s crash course will help the team break that jinx.

Yuvi skips practice

Mirpur: Yuvraj Singh, who hurt his left ankle after a round of bare-foot football yesterday, didn’t turn for the training session on Wednesday. Explaining his absence Indian team’s media manager RN Baba said, “Yuvraj Singh had a blow on his left ankle, for precautionary reasons he is taking rest today.”

Medium-pacer Mohit Sharma was hit on the shin by a cricket ball during practice on Wednesday. The Haryana bowler stopped bowling immediately but was seen doing fielding drills after applying an ice pack to the sore area.

Stay updated with the latest sports news across Cricket, Football, Chess, and more. Catch all the action with real-time live cricket score updates and in-depth coverage of ongoing matches.