AUSTRALIA TOUR OF INDIA, 2020-21
India’s top two test hitters were on the wave during the networking session. © Cricbuzz
First came the growl and then the groan. Virat Kohli’s throaty reprimand of himself had to do with a forceful impulse that missed Kartik Tyagi’s bowling ball into the far net. It went to a long ball that the Indian captain tried to force with his front foot and instead caused his bat face to close on contact. As he followed his fort aaaarrrrghhWith a few more words of discontent, in the adjoining net, Cheteshwar Pujara played a long short pitch from Nuwan Seneviratne’s gun to the stumps.
Pujara’s reaction to the mistake, like the man himself, was comparatively calmer. But you could see how disgusted he was with the unfavorable attempt to defend the delivery that resulted in him knocking him down while letting out an audible ehhhhh. At the time, India’s top two test hitters each took a second breath, before re-entering their respective zones. It almost seemed destined to be that the only imperfections for both Kohli and Pujara during the 60 minutes they scored together occurred simultaneously.
The next ball Kohli faced came from Umesh Yadav, of a similar length to Tyagi, and he threw it with revenge towards the net towards what would have been the region of the half-gate. Pujara’s next delivery was a shot from hitting coach Vikram Rathour, who resolutely pushed down to the ground, just as he had for the 20 minutes leading up to that point.
His term was briefly interrupted with a chorus of appeals from within the SCG, as Shubman Gill had been given a full 65 blows. That meant Mayank Agarwal, refreshed and looking much more solid after his session with Kohli on Friday (December 11), was joined by Hanuma Vihari. The two would forge a stable partnership before Ajinkya Rahane replaced Agarwal in the fold. The Indian test hit the numbers 5 and 6 and then comfortably played the next 20 overs, some of them under lights against the pink ball, and Vihari finally managed to score an impressive century. And at the end of Saturday night (December 12), even if it was Rishabh Pant who stole the headlines with her fiery ton, India’s batting test engine room seemed to have found its groove at the right time. in the run-up to the opening game at the Adelaide Oval.
It all started with Kohli as he walked to the nets, donning a pair of gloves, and kicking off his session with some punches. He faced two sets of 10 balls each from fielding coach R Sridhar, who was armed with a wanger. The first set was a bunch of full-length deliveries that he defended or pushed off his front foot. He then asked “Sri” to give him some balls to play with his back foot, whereupon the coach duly compelled him. Then it was time for Kohli to take care of a couple of his bats when Pujara entered the scene. In the net closest to the locker room, Rathour and reserve player Washington Sundar, who has been held back by the Indian team management, were busy setting up a “tough” zone for the two key hitters to practice for later. Rathour pulled out a stump and positioned it just a few inches from the net, where, say, the seventh stump would have been, and he did so in a similar spot on the bowler’s end as well.
It is in this network where Pujara began his routine with some habitual throws that were distributed with little poison. He then moved to the farthest net to face the spinners and Tyagi while Kohli stood by his side facing the takedown specialists. The captain seemed interested in concentrating on dealing with some short-duration fast skittles. Raghu, Nuwan and Sridhar did not disappoint as they threw ball after ball at high speeds, most of them aimed at the area between Kohli’s chest and head. As he had also asked Agarwal the day before, Kohli was very selective about the balls he chose to play with and when shouldering his arms he made sure his hands were very high, to eliminate any chance of making contact with the ball. bat. or gloves. He also seemed to judge himself by the way he backed away or ducked under some really fast gorillas from Raghu’s gun.
“I’d give myself three and a half for that one,” he told Rathour at one point, constantly asking the hitting coach where his head was at the point where the ball went through his head. “Make sure the weight doesn’t go too far back when you leave. The right foot crossed well that time,” Rathour replied as he demonstrated what he meant by the head position he wanted Kohli to maintain as he faced increased labor. That mini-tip is all he needed and the captain started to get into much stronger positions from that point on and looked to attack a lot more balls that got closer to his head. “One … one maybe … no.” then screamed every time he defended one of these bouncing deliveries in front of the square on offside.
He was also in full concentration mode, at one point some of his teammates were moving behind the bowler’s arm. This leg of Kohli’s session ended with a fearsome jerk to Raghu’s characteristic fast delivery. Ravi Shastri was present to acknowledge him with a thunderous “Shottt yaaarr”.
Having hit the center of his bat on nearly every pitch except the one the Sri Lankan takedown specialist managed through his defenses, Pujara also opted to practice against the short ball. But unlike Kohli, he chose the less conventional, but not unique, method of having Seneviratne smash some tennis balls with a racket on his upper body from a close distance. By the time he finished here, Sundar was warmed up and ready to transform into Nathan Lyon.
Pujara was the first to enter, and with Sridhar shouting instructions in Tamil, the regular T20I player from India started bowling in the mock rough area that the coaching staff had demarcated on the side of the field. Sundar took a while to get into his rhythm and a couple of times when he ended up throwing the ball closer to Pujara’s stumps, the right-hander was easily pulled away. “That line, it’ll kill you all day, man,” Sridhar chided from behind the batter. That was enough for Sundar to alter his line and also start putting more revolutions on the ball, at one point hitting Pujara’s pads. This time Sridhar thanked the young man for his efforts with a “Nice Garryyy …”
India had similarly worked to thwart Lyon’s challenge before the start of the last series of tests at Down Under. On that occasion, they had also used a leg slide with the coaching staff, setting challenges for the hitters so that they would not get hit in the gloves by the top spinning deliveries. Hopefully they’ll repeat that tactic when they get to Adelaide. For now, however, it was more about getting Pujara and Kohli used to balls coming out of the rough.
Kohli, unlike Pujara, did not mind driving against the curve and from the virtual rough. “Pace-a maathu, batter maaritaan ..(change the pace, the batter has changed), ”Sridhar yelled as Kohli began to handle Sundar with ease. This made the TN officer put more body on the balls, and Kohli also began to enjoy the challenge much more. Sundar started to get tired, it became very apparent when he started growling at the delivery point, Kohli asked him to take a break and walked away.
While Sundar had a break, the other TN official, R Ashwin, hit the longest of anyone on the net Saturday. His hitting was closely monitored by Shastri, who ended up giving his lead test spinner a series of technical tips from behind the nets, as he did at the end of Ashwin’s net against the bowlers. Ashwin has been seen working very hard on his hitting, facing takedowns every morning of the warm-up game at Drummoyne Oval last week. And he was finally left behind to face some Raghu breaks off the track for nearly 40 minutes after everyone else had left. As important as it is for India that its engine room takes shape before the Adelaide test, Ashwin’s role in number 8 will be of great importance, especially in the pink ball test with all its quirks.
And India will hope that the key figures in their batting lineup can carry their current temperament and momentum to the Adelaide Test and beyond, being well aware that there will be some grunt or grunt along the way.
© Cricbuzz
