Several members of the Indian cricket team, including stand-in captain Hardik Pandya, began training at the Wankhede Stadium here on Wednesday ahead of the ODI series against Australia but all eyes were on two wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, who have been named in the playing XI. All-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar are competing for a place.
Kuldeep and Chahal will look to showcase their googly, flipper and leg-break skills in the three-match ODI series against Australia, starting on Friday, to strengthen their claim to the World Cup later this year. Both Kuldeep and Chahal are not expert in batting. However, left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep has found some success with the bat at the Test level.
Washington and Jadeja have a good hold in both bowling and batting but Kuldeep and Chahal are ahead of them when it comes to spin skills. With regular skipper Rohit Sharma missing the first ODI in Mumbai due to family commitments, stand-in skipper Pandya was among the players to practice for over two hours with the white ball. Other players who took part in the drills included fast bowlers Mohammad Siraj, Jaydev Unadkat, Umran Malik, Shardul Thakur and batsmen Suryakumar Yadav and wicket-keeper batsman Ishan Kishan.
India’s head coach Rahul Dravid did not attend the practice session but other members of the coaching staff including batting coach Vikram Rathour, fielding coach T Dileep and bowling coach Paras Mhambrey, throwdown specialists Raghavendra and Nuwan Seneviratne were present. India’s first choice batting number five and wicket-keeping duties, KL Rahul also did not participate in the practice. He was dropped from the playing XI after the first two Tests in Nagpur and New Delhi.
Pandya, who was appointed as the vice-captain for the series, took some bowling practice. He also attempted leg break bowling in front of Kishan. Suryakumar, Kishan and Pandya took long batting practice. Siraj, who played till the third Test in Indore, also spent a lot of time batting in front of spinners and fast bowlers. The Australian players also took part in a practice session in the afternoon.
