Dravid turns throwdown specialist, Rohit takes him on; BCCI shares clip of India's practice ahead of 1st NZ T20I – Watch

The BCCI on Tuesday shared a video clip of India's first gruelling practice session, in which coach Rahul Dravid turned throwdown specialist to the Indian team.

The Indian cricket team hit the ground running two days before the start of the first T20I against New Zealand at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Wednesday.

Rohit Sharma takes Rahul Dravid on in India's practice session.  (BCCI Screengrab)

The New Zealand T20Is is India's second official assignment under Rahul Dravid's coaching and the first under Rohit Sharma's captaincy as the team's full-time T20I skipper, and as the team embarks on a new era, the first step towards next year's T20 World Cup, they face an in-form New Zealand.

The BCCI on Tuesday shared a video clip of India's first gruelling practice session, in which coach Rahul Dravid turned throwdown specialist to the Indian team. The clip captured captain Rohit playing some sumptuous shots against Dravid. The video began with the team bus arriving the stadium, with Rohit and Rahul being the first two players to step out.

Rohit tried to aim at a single wicket as Axar Patel, Avesh Khan and Suryakumar Yadav looked on in the background. With Dravid walking with the bowling equipment, the camera panned towards Rohit, who entered the nets to take strike. It was then that Dravid began giving throwdowns to Rohit which the batter played out with ease.

Then it was Ashwin's turn to bowl, with Rohit smoking the off-spinner for a huge hit. There onward, a montage of Rohit playing some delightful strokes unfolded before the 48-second-long clip came to an end. The BCCI also shared certain pictures of India's training session ahead of the Jaipur T20I.

The last time India and New Zealand played a T20I bilateral series, it were the Men in Blues who emerged victorious inflicting a 5-0 whitewash on the Kiwis in New Zealand in early 2020. However, the BlackCaps turned their fortunes around and blanked the Indian team 3-0 in the ODIs.

Since, India and New Zealand have faced each other twice – first in the final of the World Test Championship where the Kiwis by eight wickets to be crowned champions, and more recently in the T20 World Cup, where again, the BlackCaps were victorious by eight wickets.