Less than two days after their historic Asia Cup victory, the Indian squad got right into the first of two Test matches against the West Indies in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, with Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, and Axar Patel taking a respite.
The team trained at the Narendra Modi Stadium for about three hours despite the arrival of the squad members, including head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill, in Ahmedabad during the night between Monday and Tuesday.
India will also need to control the players’ workload because there is not much time between the conclusion of the Asia Cup white-ball event on Sunday and the start of a World Test Championship series on Thursday.
Following a brief warm-up and catching, the action moved to the nets, where all of the batters spent extended periods of time while the other pace bowlers also put in a lot of hard work.
Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna, fresh from featuring in India A’s five-wicket win over Australia A in the second four-day unofficial Test, bowled for close to 45 minutes once the weather cleared for the home side and both right-arm pacers were producing pace and bounce on practice wicket nets with an excellent rhythm.
After India concluded their workout, Gambhir took another look at the pitch, which he had already inspected upon arrival.
In addition to wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel, who captained India A in the second unofficial Test, openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul appeared to be in peak form.
B Sai Sudharsan and Devdutt Padikkal, the other middle-order batsmen, appeared to be in good rhythm as well, but Gill, the captain, had some trouble facing India pacers and the throw-down specialist.
When Gill pushed forward to defend, he was troubled by a couple outside edges and a few hits and misses in addition to a few that found the sweet spot of his bat. He was also caught off guard once when a soaring delivery struck his gloves high in the chest.
However, as the 26-year-old prepares to lead India in his maiden home Test as the full-time captain, Gill continued to switch up the nets and bat against every imaginable combination of pace, spin, and throwdowns.
This will also mark the first home assignment in the World Test Championship for Shubman Gill and his new-look Indian Test side, which earned widespread praise for its grit and skill during the hard-fought 2-2 series draw in England.
Who will be selected as an additional batter? It’s unclear which of Nitish Reddy and Padikkal the team management will select as an extra batter now that the top four spots are set.
Reddy also displayed excellent rhythm, especially while bowling with Siraj and Prasidh, but Padikkal did not appear to have made any mistakes in the nets after hitting 150 in the first unofficial Test match against Australia A.
It is unclear if the team management will favor having that option in the middle before the match starts, but Reddy’s participation will provide the squad a third seam bowling option. Given that the rest of the lineup, which includes Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep, Siraj, and Bumrah, appears to be fixed, these two are probably going to be discussed while choosing the playing eleven.
Kuldeep, who took a game-winning four-wicket haul in the Asia Cup final, might be the most difficult player for a weak West Indies lineup that isn’t too familiar with Indian conditions.
Earlier in the day, a rainstorm spell limited the West Indies’ nets session to roughly 30 minutes, forcing them to train indoors.
