Young brigade of Indian cricket interact with fans

Birmingham (UK), Aug 9: The young brigade of the Indian cricket comprising of Praveen Kumar, Virat Kohli, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma and Abhinav Mukund on Monday opened their heart out before their fans at Victoria Square in Birmingham.

The cricketers seemed relaxed and answered questions thrown at them by the Indian and English fans. The question and answer session was hosted by former English captain Nasir Hussain.

Speaking to the media after the fun-filled session, Ojha said the team is eager to bounce back after they suffered defeats in the first two matches against England. Ojha has played 11 Tests and taken 42 wickets with best figures of 4/17.

"I think its very unfortunate that we lost our great spinner like Harbhajan Singh due to injury and I am really looking forward for this series because it is a very big series for the Indian cricket, and what I have heard is, our number one position is at stake. So, I am really looking forward and, when I get my chances, I will definitely do well for my team," he said.

"There are lot of things like seeing the culture here and knowing a lot of places here, interacting with people that is how we understand how this country is run. Knowing everything about a country that is what excites me and I walk on the roads and observe the life of people here and how different it is from India," Ojha added.

Praveen Kumar said that during their free time, the players enjoyed themselves as they had long fun-filled conversations with each other.

"Besides playing cricket, we all sit together and have long chats. We also do some shopping in our free time and search for good eating joints. We all like Indian food and this is how we spend our free time," said Kumar.

Virat Kohli, who was included in the Indian squad in place of the injured Yuvraj Singh, said that it was easier for the players to hang out while they were travelling abroad as compared to when they were playing in India.

Left-hander, Yuvraj had fractured his index finger after he was hit by a short-pitched delivery from England seamer Tim Bresnan during India''s 319-run defeat in the second test at Trent Bridge.