India’s preparations for the upcoming long Test season began on Friday with some young people saying hello and some old people saying, do I remember? Virat Kohli is back in the red ball gear for the first time in almost nine months. Rishabh Pant looks set to pick up where his Test career left off two years ago. And Gautam Gambhir was there watching everything when the team was preparing to face Bangladesh (two Tests in September), New Zealand (three Tests in October) and Australia (five Tests in November-January).
India’s Test team arrived in Chennai on Thursday and began group practice. Captain Rohit Sharma addressed them together and was one of the first to get out there and hit the ball. He was joined by Kohli as the two faced off against a series of net bowlers on specially prepared pitches at each end of the square at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
One had a base of black soil, with many footprints in the ground so full and beautiful that it looked burnt. One had a red soil base and had special irrigation features; the short and beautiful place was clean but everything was crowded rather rough. The middle wicket, was closed and seemed to contain grass. Over the years, India have tried to simulate fast bowler-friendly conditions in home Test matches to prepare for important away tours.
Rohit and Kohli have worked alongside their senior team-mates Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, who will enter the new season full of confidence after their impressive performances against England earlier this year. All four take turns between the two nets and are fed rich food through the left arm. Tamil Nadu’s Ajith Ram and M Siddharth continued to walk away trying to show the threat that Shakib Al Hasan will pose in the coming weeks. Varun Chakravarthy was also there, as was Himanshu Singh, the 21-year-old from Mumbai who seems to have borrowed R Ashwin’s bowling game.
Soon it was time for the Indian bowlers to have some fun and Jasprit Bumrah, who last played for India in the T20 World Cup final in June, did not hold back. Even though it was his second skill, he was playing well in getting the balls straight down the floor. In the afternoon, he did some fitness work and chatted with bowling coach Morne Morkel.
The rookie fast bowlers had to pull off a tough task. Yash Dayal, who is training with an eye towards the Border-Gavaskar Trophy later in the year, had a meaningful session under the watchful eyes of Morkel and Gambhir. Despite his ability to deliver a left-arm angle, his attempted ball has a tendency to hit too high on the bat.
Pant provided one of the most exciting moments of Friday’s session when he took Dayal, after being beaten, with a rare shot from his waist. At the time of his life-threatening car accident in December 2022, the wicketkeeper was one of India’s leading batsmen in Test cricket. Although he is back in limited-overs, and was part of the team that won the T20 World Cup, it will be a big moment, next Thursday, when he is back playing red-ball cricket.
The first Test against Bangladesh in Chennai on September 19 is one of five home matches that India have in their run to the World Test Championship finals in June 2025. They are currently No. 1 in the points table and will be looking for another five-win stretch from in the 10 games they have left on their calendar to make their third consecutive finals appearance.
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