In preparation for their one-off Test match against Afghanistan, Team India, led by Shubman Gill, got right to work. New Chandigarh will host the Test from Saturday.
”Team India hits the nets as the red ball grind gets underway ahead of the #INDvAFG Test,” BCCI captioned a video posted on their X handle.
India’s training session on Tuesday was attended by players including Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and KL Rahul, and head coach Gautam Gambhir closely supervised the preparations.
Despite the intense heat in Mullanpur, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna bowled at full tilt for about 25 minutes on Wednesday.
Siraj’s tough spell in scorching circumstances suggested that the senior pacer was not carrying any evident fitness concerns, despite some worries being expressed about the strain of bowlers following a two-month IPL season. It would have been challenging to maintain such exertion in the intense heat that characterizes this region’s harsh summers if he hadn’t been physically prepared.
During the session, Gurnoor Brar, a powerful 6-foot-5-inch right-arm fast bowler, also attracted attention with his ability to extract crisp bounce from a good length. KL Rahul, who otherwise appeared to be technically compact during his time in the nets, gave him outside edges at least twice. Auqib Nabi Dar, a pacer from Jammu and Kashmir, bowled in several stages and seemed consistent, working well within himself while keeping his line and length.
Harsh Dubey, a left-arm spinner, was given a significant amount of hitting time during the practice, indicating that the team management is eager to evaluate his all-around ability. Head coach Gautam Gambhir watched intently as Dubey and Manav Suthar, his opponent for the left-arm orthodox spinner position, bowled in neighboring nets.
Against the reserve bowlers, notably Prince Yadav, all of the specialized hitters—including captain Shubman Gill—spent valuable time in the nets.
Pacer Mayank Yadav, who has suffered several injuries recently, was also on the team. But rather than spending a lot of time bowling, the Lucknow Super Giants speedster mostly concentrated on conditioning and fitness exercises.
