Right under the Sachin Tendulkar stand, Shubman Gill padded up and took guard for his first hit of the day. Rest of his teammates were busy warming up but Gill was itching to bat. It was not going to be his only hit of the day as he would keep switching nets for the remainder of the session.
All this while, he wasn’t alone and had KL Rahul either in the adjacent net or waiting for his turn. The two walked out to bat at the same time, after Gill’s session earlier in the day, under the watchful eyes of coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma. Both were stationed in the center and had good vision of the two openers.
Rohit had just finished batting but he stayed back with pads on to watch the right-handers in action. Gill would start against a spin-heavy line-up featuring Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja while KL Rahul faced a seam-spin combination led by Mohammed Shami.
With Gill, it was instant impact and he looked all at ease against Jadeja. There was a mini-contest of sorts between the two and Gill clearly had the upperhand as he hit a couple of delightful inside-out drives and looked to dominate the left-arm spinner.
Shubman Gill (L) and KL Rahul (R) in the nets. #INDvsAUS #BorderGavaskarTrophy pic.twitter.com/iQ1WuVkPDg
— Sahil Malhotra (@Sahil_Malhotra1) February 27, 2023
The approach was similar against Ashwin and he looked comfortable going aerial against the spin-twins. When it was Rahul’s turn to face spin music, he was tentative and little unassured to start with but when he got his eye in, he too looked to play his shots and swept well in the process.
Both Gill and Rahul were clearly not done with batting and the former rushed to the corner net where Ishan Kishan was facing some side-armers. Kishan made way for Gill and KL Rahul, after a quick hydration break, followed Gill to the corner net. The two would take turns for short batting bursts before calling it a day.
There weren’t any clear signs of who would play but chorus for Gill’s inclusion is getting louder by the day. The only change in the Indore XI, if any, will be who opens with Rohit in the third Test. Rahul has faced a lot of flak for his underwhelming returns at top of the order and him not being the vice-captain anymore will make the management call much easier now.
Kohli, Rohit and a spin masterclass
The experienced pair of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli put on a masterclass of how to bat against spin. The two were precise with their footwork and didn’t shy away from getting to the pitch of the turning deliveries often. They took turns to face the pair of Ashwin and Jadeja but both were equally impressive.
Ash comes from around the stumps, Kohli dances down the track and lofts it over the bowler's ahead. Intent remains the keyword as far as Kohli is concerned. Looking very busy. As if itching to score off every ball. #BorderGavaskarTrophy @cricketnext
— Sahil Malhotra (@Sahil_Malhotra1) February 27, 2023
For most of the session, Ashwin remained around the wicket and Kohli countered it well by dancing down the track and lofting it over the bowler’s head. It was something he was working on judiciously in the marathon session on Sunday and connected a few nicely.
The former India skipper clearly looked very busy in the session as he kept exploring scoring options on both sides of the wicket and hardly looked to defend.
Rohit too looked positive with his footwork and approach and kept jumping out of the crease. If Kohli was stepping out, Rohit was quite literally jumping. Even while defending Ashwin, he would hop out of the crease and dab the ball down right under his nose with soft hands. Soft hands, yes that was the key when he defended deliveries directed towards the body or pads.
🏏Australia trains hard at the Holkar Stadium in Indore
🏏Mitchell Starc looks raring to go
🏏Top order faces spin #INDvsAUS | #BGT @Sahil_Malhotra1 shares some exclusive footage⤵️https://t.co/tU5qV52vMY
— News18 CricketNext (@cricketnext) February 27, 2023
The cover comes off
The Indore strip was covered for most of the day but the covers finally came off around 4:20 pm when coach Dravid inspected the 22 yards with other members of the support staff. From the distance, it looks better than what was offered in both Nagpur and Delhi, not suggesting they were bad pitches.
During the little bounce test by the support staff, there were some patches where it kept really low around the short of good length area but that could well be due to the watering and some time under the sun could settle matters there.
Covers came off the pitch and it did look better than what we saw in Delhi and Nagpur. There are few spots where ball was keeping a tad low (they did a bounce test near the short of good length area) but some sun, water should settle matters there. Roller is out too. #INDvsAUS
— Sahil Malhotra (@Sahil_Malhotra1) February 27, 2023
The ground staff rushed the roller to the middle after the bounce test and gave the strip a nice roll under generous sunshine. The players by then also vacated the practice nets and eased back to the dressing room.
Yes, both KL Rahul and Shubman Gill didn’t return for another hit with the bat but the eyes will firmly remain on the pair when they jog out on eve of the match as the question of ‘Who will open with Rohit?’ remains unanswered, for now.
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