Christchurch, Feb. 21: A game of rugby and some fielding and batting drills comprised the strenuous three-hour workout that the Indian cricket team went through ahead of the series against New Zealand that kicks off with a Twenty20 match on February 25.

The visitors practiced at the picturesque Bert Sutcliffe grounds. Although Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men are the Twenty20 world champions, they will bear in mind that they had been humbled by 10 runs by the resilient Kiwis during the inaugural championship at Johannesburg last September.

Warming up with a game of touch rugby, Dhoni’s men were put through the fielding drill by coach Gary Kirsten before they moved to the adjacent ground for a hit at the net. Kirsten spent some time with Rohit Sharma, urging the youngster, to get his front foot in the right place while driving the ball.

Time and again, Kirsten walked up to the middle to guide the Mumbaikar with his bio-mechanics before Rohit got his act right in the second session for a knock against Ishant Sharma and Irfan Pathan. Sachin Tendulkar took to the nets soon after, often walking up to Kirsten and asking him to pitch the ball in a particular position so that he could lean into his shots.

Pace spearhead Zaheer Khan chose to go for a run alongside bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad, much after his teammates had wound up the nets. The team arrived here yesterday after a strenuous journey, prolonged by transit layovers at Hong Kong and Auckland.

India, who play two Twenty20 matches, a five-ODI series followed by three Tests during the tour, has not won a Test series in New Zealand for the past 41 years. NZC arranging practice matches for Indian Test players

Meanwhile, to fulfill its commitment of arranging a warm-up match for Indian players before the first Test, New Zealand Cricket is mulling sending them to different provinces for practice. India had agreed to extend their Test series from two to three matches on the request of NZC and in lieu of that they had demanded some practice for the players, who were not part of the ODI squad.

Six Indian players — Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Amit Mishra, Murali Vijay, Dhawal Kulkarni and Laxmipathi Balaji — are expected to play in New Zealand’s domestic circuit before the first Test, beginning March 18.

— PTI