Mumbai Indians players today underwent a trainingsession ahead of the IPL season beginning next week with captain Ricky Pontinghaving a feel of the team environment though he did not take part in thepractice.
Ponting joined the team after arriving last night and waspresent at the training session at the Wankhede Stadium.
The 38-year-old, who retired from international cricket inDecember last, was seen chatting with team mentor Anil Kumble, chief coach JohnWright and fielding coach Jonty Rhodes.
Ponting was bought by Mumbai Indians at a base price of USD400,000 during the IPL players' auction held in Chennai in February.
Twelve players including -- Aiden Blizzard, NathanCoulter-Nile, Dinesh Karthik, Pragyan Ojha, Dhawal Kulkarni, Aditya Tare,Sushant Marathe, Suryakumar Yadav -- attended the day's session.
"The players are coming in batches. Dwayne Smith willarrive tonight. Most of them would be here by Sunday and a few players areexpected to join the team at Bangalore before the first match," a teamspokesperson said.
MI begin their campaign against RoyalChallengers in Bangalore on April 4. MI's first home game is scheduled forApril 9 against Delhi Daredevils after their second away game against formerchampions Chennai Super Kings on April 6.