Dravid gave Gill the mantra to play sweep, Indians practiced against spinners
In a bid to avoid backfire on playing on spin-friendly pitches in the four-Test series against Australia, the Indian batsmen sweated it out in net drills against such bowlers in two innings here on Tuesday. Australia’s left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe had troubled India six years ago in Pune by taking 12 wickets on a spin-friendly pitch. This figure is more than a third of his 35 wickets in his Test career.
In the next match of the same series, Nathan Lyon’s off-spin troubled the Indian batsmen. The Indian team practiced against nine spinners in the net session on Tuesday. In this, four spinners are part of the 15-member squad while five are players associated with India ‘A’ and domestic teams. While Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Akshar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav looked to conserve their energy for the five-day match, off-spinners Pulkit Narang and Jayant Yadav along with leg-spinner Rahul Chahar and left-arm Ravishrinivasan Sai Kishore and Saurabh Kumar took the Indian batsmen by storm. Made you practice
The lack of good off-spin bowlers in domestic cricket could be clearly seen here. Narang and Jayant, who has represented India, are not even in the list of top 10 wicket-takers in the current domestic season. Jalaj Saxena was neglected here as well while Jayant’s presence shows that the Indian batsman is aware of Lyon’s threat. When asked about the team’s preparations, Indian vice-captain Lokesh Rahul said, “Obviously we have worked mainly on playing spin. We know what the pitches will be like here in India and what to expect from it. Keeping this in mind, we practiced playing spin.
While Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli were seen playing sweep shots in the practice session, Cheteshwar Pujara was batting well ahead of the crease to reduce the effect of off-spin. Rahul said, “Every player has his own individual plans. Everyone wants to play a certain way. Everyone has their own method, which has been discussed with the coach. We have discussed this as a batting group in an effort to try and play spin better.
India head coach Rahul Dravid spent a lot of time with Gill in practice sessions. During this, the coach told this young player how to keep the ball down during the sweep shot. Gill was then seen practicing catching at forward short leg under the supervision of fielding coach T Dileep. The situation regarding India’s playing XI is not clear yet, but looking at Gill’s excellent form, he is more likely to get a chance. The ball will turn a lot from day one on spinner-friendly pitches and in such a situation, a better wicketkeeper will be needed in the team.
Kona Bharat’s claim in this matter is stronger than that of Ishan Kishan. Bharat has shown excellent wicketkeeping skills against Ashwin in a low-bouncing pitch at the Green Park ground in Kanpur. Kishan though is a left-handed batsman and like Rishabh Pant is known for his aggressive batting. The team has a lot to consider in one more selection and will have to choose between Akshar and Kuldeep. Axar impressed last season in spin-friendly pitches and can contribute with the bat as well.
