In his intense desire to come up with a good show before his home crowd, Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly on Tuesday had a solitary net session at the Eden Gardens before the arrival of his teammates for the scheduled morning practice.
Local boy Ganguly, who is yet to score a hundred at the Eden despite eight Test appearances, came to the ground about 20 minutes before his colleagues and straight away went to the nets.
With leading Bengal pacers S S Paul and Ranadeb Bose sending down their stuff, Ganguly rehearsed a wide array of strokes and also tried to fine tune his defensive shots which would come in handy for him in the second cricket Test against Pakistan beginning tomorrow.
Ganguly said he decided to be the early bird only "to get a feel of the ground".
Ganguly was later joined by his team mates for the regular session.
The dashing left-hander, who once had a 50 plus Test average, has often been criticised for the lack of runs from his blade in the last two-three years. His Test average has also dropped to around 45.