Dhawan, Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar visit home arena of NBA Miami Heats

Florida, Aug 25 (IANS) Indian cricketers Ravichandran Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar on Thursday visited the home arena of American professional basketball club Miami Heats here.

The Indian cricket team is in the United States to play a two-match Twenty20 International series against reigning World T20 champions West Indies at the Central Broward Regional Park here on August 27 and 28.

The latest recruits of the Miami Heats -- Tyler Johnson and Briante Weber -- hosted the Indian trio at their home ground, The American Airlines Arena.

The Indian players were taken around the locker room, gymnasium and the recuperation centre before indulging in a brief bout of play between the five of them.

Shikhar and Bhuvneshwar were chatting up the hosts, while Ashwin seemed to have gone back to his school days of playing basketball.

"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 to these guys how cricket is played, they in return taught me the finer details of basketball," Dhawan said.

Bhuvneshwar 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."

Speaking about his visit to the Miami Heats home arena, off-spinner Ashwin said: "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."

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 Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) were active with posts and pictures ever since they landed in the US.

--IANS

ac/tri/bg