Virat Kohli was seen disagreeing with one of his teammates who wanted to take it 'easy' during India's first fielding session at Perth's Optus Stadium on Monday. Team India's fielding coach, T Dilip, pitted the players against each other in a unique drill, which he claims strengthens team bonding, as part of their first practice session. Dilip had fielders aligning in different field positions to practice the Relay Throw phenomenon. Ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy The competitive spirit of this drill stems from the fact that whoever throws first is rewarded a point. As the word relay indicates, it involves more than one fielder who will coordinate with each other to affect a good throw to the stumps or wicketkeeper.

The incident, captured for only two seconds, saw Kohli saying 'Kyu karein? Aur kam maaro udhar' (Why should we? Throw it more towards them), when a player requested 'thoda easy rakh lo' (keep it as tad easy).

Instead of one long throw from the deep, the practice was divided into two parts. One fielder would throw the ball from the boundary to the close-in fielder, who would then pick it up and dart it in. Dilip first summoned the fast bowlers since they mostly field in the deep and have powerful arms. The rest of the fielders joined in. The likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Kohli impressed with their throws, hitting the bulls-eye and making Dilip happy.

"The drill is very simple. Whoever throws first will be getting one point. What we wanted to do today was want everyone to get together and closer to the match in terms of what we wanted. So that is why today's team drill was more related to retrieving where a fielder at the boundary throws the ball to the in-fielder. So instead of one long throw, we wanted to have two flat throws," Dilip said while speaking to BCCI.

"We put that into practice so that players know whether to stand towards the left or right so that they are in a proper position and not wasting time in turn. So players on the boundary are also aware that another person is waiting for it so that they can throw the ball in one bounce into the hands."

Why healthy competition is needed, explains T Dilip

Dilip additionally pointed out that injecting a spirit of healthy competition holds the players in good spirits, as it warms them up nicely for a long fielding session. With the first session setting up the platform where players wanted to outdo each other, they looked a lot more determined and motivated to go about the rest of their fielding activities.

"Today, after the session, you can see that I am very happy. The players have really put up the intensity. So, by now, I get a sense of the team and how they work around. That is why I always prepare a little competition first to start with so that after the warm-up they kick off having their fun, laughter and getting together," said Dilip.

Then, when they come into the skillsr – whether it is slip catching o running catching, you can see that players were really up to it. I had to literally stop certain people going for it. But I am very happy with the way players have responded gradually."

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