Football before cricket Football seems to be the Indian cricket team's new practice mantra. Yesterday, the Men in Blue arrived at around 2 pm at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here for practice on the eve of the fifth ODI against Australia and engaged in some footie action straightaway. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh were the pick of the 'footballers'. Both were on the same team and seemed to be getting their cricketing partnership going here too as they made quite a few perfect passes to each other.u00a0u00a0 u00a0u00a0 Grass is greenu2026 literally! Twenty-four hours before hosting a one-day international cricket match, frantic activity and last-minute touch ups are a common sight at all cricketing venues across the country. The Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Uppal is no exception. However, on the eve of the fifth ODI between India and Australia yesterday, there was one particular activity that had almost everyone watching in splits. A couple of Hyderabad Cricket Association groundsmen were seen using green paint to camouflage some of the brown patches (devoid of grass due to wear and tear) outside the boundary line with the green outfield. Sadly, the shade used was at least five times lighter than grass at the venue, but that didn't deter the men from doing their job. "Saheb ne bola hara dikhna chahiye," said one of the 'painters' even as he posed happily for a picture for our photographer. This curator is a scientist Scientists are normally considered to be a geeky breed with no sporting connections. However, curator of the Visaka Ground here at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium YL Chandrasekhar is an exception. Chandrasekhar is a junior scientist with Hyderabad-based International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Aid Tropics (ICRISAT) and has in fact, used his knowledge and expertise in crops and soil to create a lush green surface. "I have played a bit of cricket in my younger days for the ICRISAT team. So, when HCA offered me the job of curator at the ground, I grabbed it with both hands," he told MiD DAY.

Football seems to be the Indian cricket team's new practice mantra. 

It's football before cricket for Dhoni's Indians

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It's football before cricket for Dhoni's Indians

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