India look to reload on long cricket tour

Firing blanks in the triangular one-day series has not stopped India looking for novel ways to re-load on a long Australian tour.

India one-day captain MS Dhoni said he may organise a paintball session against journalists in a bid to spark his side after their underwhelming tour reached a new low against England on Tuesday night in Brisbane.

India shot themselves in the foot at the Gabba after winning the toss and being bowled out for 153 – their lowest completed total in 50-over cricket against England.

Steven Finn took 5-33 and James Anderson 4-18 as England gunned down India within 40 overs.

England cruised to 1-156 with more than 22 overs to spare thanks to Ian Bell (88 not out) and James Taylor (56 not out).

India are now winless in eight matches on their four month-plus tour of Australia with the World Cup still to come.

Dhoni admitted his side had to find a way to “stay fresh” ahead of their must-win ODI against Australia in Sydney on January 26.

And what better way than to gun for the journalists who shot down India’s ordinary Gabba effort in newspapers on Wednesday.

“Four-and-a-half months away from everything, it is tough,” Dhoni said.

“But we knew this was going to happen.

“We will have a bit more of team activities, we will have a bit more fun, maybe have paintball with the media people one day, and that will be fun.

“That’s the kind of thing you have to do on a long tour.”

India’s scribes gave their national team both barrels in their coverage of the Gabba massacre, summing up the clash as “utter humiliation” and “complete annihilation”.

But Dhoni was not hearing any alarm bells ahead of the World Cup.

In fact Dhoni reckoned cricket may just be the last thing on his team’s mind.

“It’s important from now on to be fresh, to assess carefully as to whether we need to spend more time on the field or we need to switch off from cricket,” he said.

“Because we have another couple of months that we have to spend here.”

Dhoni suggested India may take a leaf out of Australian great Adam Gilchrist’s book in a bid to rediscover their mojo ahead of the World Cup.

“When you are not scoring at times it is best to just go out and express yourself,” he said.

“That’s something that Adam Gilchrist used to do very well.

“When he was out of form he used to play his shots right from the very first ball – often that helps.”

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