Florida: Ahead of the two-match Twenty20 series against West Indies, Indian cricketers, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar visited the home of American basketball team Miami Heat. On what was supposed to be a day off for the Indian cricket team, the Indian trio were hosted by Tyler Johnson and Briante Weber, the latest recruit of the Miami Heat, at their home ground — The American Airlines Arena.
The Indian contingent was taken around the locker room, gymnasium and the recuperation center before indulging in a brief bout of play between the five of them. Shikhar and Bhuvneshwar were chatting up with the hosts, while Ashwin seemed to have gone back to his school days of playing basketball. “I’ve played a bit of basketball during my school days so that got me really excited while I tried my hand again after so many years. I am thankful to both Weber and Johnson for taking time out and showing us around their home turf,” Ashwin said.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar said: “It was great to see these guys and learn about their game. I was impressed with the facilities here and it was a learning experience for me to see the amount of technology being used in sports science.” Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan said: “It was great fun. I am very happy we could make it here. Exchanging thoughts about how the sports have transformed with the latest technology is always good. While I tried to explain these guys how cricket is played, they in return taught me the finer details of basketball.”
The other Indian players had a field day in the new country as some of them went around shopping, while a few others chose to relax at the hotel. The Social Media handles of players and the BCCI were active with posts and pictures ever since they landed in the USA. The southern coast of the USA was buzzing after the Indian cricket team arrived in the city of Fort Lauderdale to play the two Twenty20 internationals against West Indies at the Central Broward Regional Park on August 27 and 28. In an attempt to popularise the sport in non-cricketing nations, the BCCI reached out to the West Indies Cricket Board for a two match T20 International Series to be played in Florida, USA.
