The ball flew into the Perth net. There were four available for training and one where
R Ashwin he was bowling and his spin had a nice shot. India’s XI for the first Test
the Border-Gavaskar Trophywhich starts here on Friday, could be made up of those capable of giving speed and bounce with the ball and fighting it with the bat. In these conditions, KL Rahul is likely to return to the top of the order, Devdutt Padikkal is likely to be at No. 3, while Dhruv Jurel is almost a certainty at No. 6.
Here’s how India’s XI is preparing for the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Filling the opening position shouldn’t be a big problem. On the one hand, India knew Rohit might not survive and in Rahul, they have someone who has done the job before. Rahul kept himself quite busy in the nets on Tuesday, focusing on defense and shouting loudly when what he tried to do every now and then didn’t work out.
Gill’s injury, while on the field, was unexpected and last minute. India had to adapt quickly and did so by asking Padikkal, who was in Australia with his A team, to stay back. Padikkal crashed with the first group on Tuesday morning. His height and reach can pose a problem for bowling attacks, with balls of good length suddenly becoming drivable, but this is in batting-friendly conditions, which it does not.
Like most of India’s batsmen in Tuesday’s three-hour session, he was a bit up and down, ending his session with a harsh hit against the spinners, with back and cross movements so quick and fluid, but against the rapids he was largely reserved and his edges suffered a lot of damage. Padikkal did well against Australia A
in Mackayfacing 276 balls in two innings at No. 4 and scoring 124 runs. He fell 5th in the next unofficial test on a very spicy MCG pitch, but this
it didn’t go so well.
India have another top-order batsman in their team and he has scored a lot of runs in domestic cricket, but he couldn’t shake the initial expression of looking a little uncomfortable with the extra pace and bounce offered on these pitches.
Abhimanyu Easwaran he only had the chance to hit the nets alongside the bowlers. He is unlikely to feature in the Test match within two days.
Jurel favorite for 6th place
Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant are at 4th and 5th place, which leaves one more place up for grabs in the middle order.
The loudest sounds – first laughter and then some joy – of the day occurred when a slip came fast and hard on
Sarfaraz Khan passed through his fingers. The second loudest was the sound of Jurel’s bat coming down to meet the ball. These are the two players competing for 6th place and their day couldn’t have been more different.
Sarfaraz was on the periphery. In fact, he only slipped when Rahul left him to practice attacking near the spinner along with Yashasvi Jaiswal. Jurel’s day started here too, on the third slip. Then the team moved from the main field to the nets and that was where Jurel really stood out. He stood on his tiptoes and continued bouncing balls like a pro, hands soft, club face pointed down, the ball falling dead in front of him. He also threw a beautiful swing at a fastball on the other end of the length spectrum. His decision-making and the time he had to get behind the ball in Perth, coupled with his performance in Melbourne – twin fifties in difficult conditions – earlier this month could well have launched him into the XI on Friday.
India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel spent most of his time looking after
Nitish Kumar Reddyeither standing where the referee would be or walking back with Reddy to the top of his mark. He has the acceleration of a fast bowler, but not the pace. His work was geared towards compensating for this, as he tried to keep a line outside the stump and trap the dough in the crease.
India appear to be hoping that Reddy will up his batting to No. 8 and give them a bowling option suited to these conditions – the role Shardul Thakur used to play on recent overseas tours. If Reddy could get through 6-10 overs a day without losing too many runs, the fast-moving frontline could be rotated more efficiently.
The spin bowling slot is likely to be in Ashwin’s favor as three of Australia’s leading batsmen – Usman Khawaja, Travis Head and Alex Carey – are left-handed. Ravindra Jadeja did not bowl in the nets at Optus Stadium but went through a long batting session.
Who will be Jasprit Bumrah’s partner?
There’s a little momentum gaining behind
Dura Rana after his work in match simulation settings at WACA. He spent much of that time bowling at the wicket and trying to catch his people at bounce. He is 22 years old. He is strong. He doesn’t have much first-class experience behind him. But he has impressed the right people and that can often be more important than simple statistics. Rana didn’t bowl much in the nets on Tuesday.
It’s unclear who can clear the way for him because
Mohammed Siraj was one of India’s best artists on his last tour of Australia and
Akash Deep He hasn’t had a performance that fell apart yet. He also had a long shift in the Perth nets behind India’s frontline batsmen. The same with
Prasidh Krishnaand on at least one occasion he knew he had his man. “I heard a noise,” he said happily as he exchanged notes with his bowling partners. Between running and letting the ball fly, Prasidh had a quick one-on-one with Virat Kohli, whose gestures indicated how difficult it can be for a batsman to deal with long balls – and not completely short ones – when they happen to come off the pitch.
The Optus Stadium surface has the same clay as the WACA. He will offer pace and elasticity, although he will first need to warm up in the heat of the sun and that was in short supply on Tuesday, with rain forcing the cancellation of Australia’s free practice session. India are trying to prepare their XI to suit these conditions and have had to overcome the inexperience of some of their players – Jurel, Reddy, Rana, Prasidh and Padikkal have played just seven Tests between them – and analyze their potential to make it happen.
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