Tour match: India look to regain confidence

Northampton: After getting a bashing in the first two Tests against England, India will look to put their campaign back on track in a two-day practice match against Northamptonshire starting on Friday.

The visitors got a big boost to keep their chance of drawing the four-match series alive as the swashbuckling opener Virender Sehwag joined the squad on Wednesday.
Sehwag, who is being touted as the messiah who will pull India out of the rut, showed no signs of discomfort when he trudged into the indoor nets here on Thursday.
While Sehwag is returning from a shoulder injury, Gambhir had been rendered out of action because of the impact his right elbow received due to a ferocious Matt Prior sweep in the first Test at Lord's last month.
Another injured cricketer Zaheer Khan kept himself away from indoor nets but his recovery has been on expected lines and he has begun to bowl with growing vigour over the last three days.
The progress of the all three will be keenly observed in the two-day match.
India would look to field all three of them in the third Test in Edgbaston starting August 10 even if their presence and productivity is reduced to minimum in the two-day tie.
The tie will be of equal concern for skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni who needs to do well with both the willow and big gloves.
And so it must be for Suresh Raina who has again got his critics going over his handling of intimidating fast bowling.
Both Dhoni and Raina were two early turn-outs at the nets on Thursday, along with Sehwag and Gambhir, as the visitors look to regain belief and respect in the eyes of millions of fans.
Within an hour, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman too were showing up at the indoor nets as a determined India announced their intention to set its house in order.
The wicket in the middle, long engrained in the Indian mindset as one favouring the tweakers, is likely to be a complete contrast and extremely encouraging for fast bowlers.
There is an even spread of grass in the middle and the pitch is no longer one of old where it turned and bounced from the first morning and where Bishan Singh Bedi in the past, and Kumble in the 90s, picked up wickets by the bucketful.
It's also a place where Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann earned their spurs. The host, leaders of the Division 2 county table, is unlikely to roll out a red carpet in reception especially of the cricketing kind.
They understand their role is to keep the visitors down to their present situation of confusion and chaos and they are determined to do it to the best of their ability.
In a strange way, this intensity on the part of hosts should suit the visitors who are looking to simulate the conditions they surely would face in Edgbaston.