Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 15
After a horrendous show in the first Test in Nagpur, Australia are drudging the thought of playing on another turner as the second Test starts here from Friday. Mitchell Starc hinted that the pitch, which he said looked dry, would be similar to the Nagpur pitch.
It was, therefore, also not a surprise that the Indian batters, including skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer and Cheteshwar Pujara, spent a considerable amount of time playing spin in the nets. In fact, Kohli was the first one to hit the nets. After facing seam bowlers for some time, he asked for the spinners. But before the spinners could bowl to him, Kohli decided to up the difficulty level by scuffing some of the rough patches on the pitch.
The result was desirable as he was beaten a few times because of unpredictable bounce and spin. The net bowlers — Uttar Pradesh’s left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar and Delhi’s off-spinners Hrithik Shokeen and Pulkit Narang — asked a lot of questions of Kohli.
Kohli used his feet extensively — stepping out to drive the ball or rocking back to play with the turn — to counter the spin.
Pujara’s big moment
Even as India are looking to go 2-0 up in the Test series against Australia, the Arun Jaitley Stadium is getting ready to ring in a special occasion as this would be Cheteshwar Pujara’s 100th Test match. The momentous occasion will be celebrated with a lot of fanfare as the BCCI, the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) and the Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) will felicitate the long-serving Indian batter before the start of play on Saturday. A 10-member SCA delegation is travelling to New Delhi, while the BCCI top brass, including secretary Jay Shah, will all be there for the function.
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