Nets nuggets: Kohli, Jadeja bat with intent at Indore; Gill continues to ooze class

Indore: “Virat….,” came a loud shout from some distance as Virat Kohli’s woodwork was disturbed by one of the side-arm specialists. The former India captain was practicing right under the Sachin Tendulkar Stand at the Holkar Stadium in Indore while most of his teammates were stationed at the opposite end of the ground, on the other practice wickets.

For that brief period, preceding the loud “Virat” poke by Axar Patel, the right-hander played some scratchy shots. “Chauka, chauka, yes one,” he would say to himself but didn’t quite look in control during the space of those five-six deliveries, which were his final few of that session. Kohli finished his session with a nice booming cover-drive and took a water break before resuming action against spin.

Just like Delhi, Kohli was the first to hit the nets and this time he had Mohammed Siraj for company, with the bat, in the adjacent net as the two spent a lot of time in the middle. For Kohli, it was about getting a nice feel of the bat vs side-arm music before he was unleashed against the spinners. Intent was the keyword as the right-hander didn’t shy away from using his feet against both left-arm and off-spinners and did deposit a few in the stands too.

He continued to explore more scoring options on the leg-side and would often get to the pitch of the ball to muscle few between the square-leg and mid-wicket region. The plan was simple. It was a simulation of sorts for the deliveries targeted towards the body/pads and Kohli was looking to find more ways to score off them.

In that Delhi Test, he would pick up singles with ease off his pads and straight down the ground and didn’t really have to do anything silly as in-out fields allowed him to keep the scoreboard ticking. The 44 in the first innings of the second Test were hard-fought and well-made runs but the fields helped Kohli’s approach.

Indore’s net session with spinners started on that similar note where he worked them around for ones and twos straight down the ground, mostly towards the long-on region, but carnage unfolded in the second half where he would step out almost every second delivery and looked to cover the spin with his footwork and then just hit through the line of the ball.

Long, long session and then Kohli was finally out of the nets. The former India skipper hydrated himself before wrapping a towel around his neck and then heading for the change room. He didn’t last long there and was out for sprints before calling it a day and leaving the venue before the rest of the team.

How much is too much, Pujara?

From the rest of his teammates, Ravindra Jadeja in particular, a similar approach was seen in the nets as the left-hander was severe on spin. He would deposit Kuldeep Yadav into the stands on more than one occasion and kept dancing down the track against both Kuldeep and Axar.

Jadeja was initially batting on practice strips opposite to where Kohli was training. He started the session with his Saurashtra teammate Cheteshwar Pujara, who was the first to enter and last to exit.

Four practice strips were being used for Sunday’s session and Pujara could be seen everywhere. After a hit with Jadeja, under the eyes of coach Rahul Dravid, Pujara headed towards the Sachin Tendulkar Stand and kept batting there too. Most of his teammates were already in their cool-down phase but Pujara was still at it. Dancing down the track, going back and across to open up more scoring options on the leg side and would often look to go straight vs spin.

A subtle sign of “enough for the day” came from Dravid, who now returned to Pujara’s nets as all the players were wrapping up for the day. Finally, the moment arrived and Pujara, still not looking tired, exited the nets, took his gear off and had a long chat with coach Dravid before obliging the net bowlers with some pictures.

Gill oozes class

The only slot up for discussion ahead of the third Test vs Australia is the second opener’s slot and every time Gill walks out to bat, he gives more than one reason to make his own. It was another of those reminders in Indore on Sunday as he batted like a dream against the net bowlers. The sound off his bat was echoing in the empty stadium and he kept creaming them ball after ball.

Gill-KL Rahul debate is set for another episode ahead of this Test and the former continues to take the right steps, at least in the nets. The youngster operated under Dravid’s watchful eyes for most of his session and he too had a taste of all four practice wickets at the venue.

If the early signs are to be believed, the Indian batters are now looking to explore more scoring options vs spin and to Australia’s surprise, sweep wasn’t one.

Update: Skipper Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin and Shreyas Iyer were not at the venue for the session today and the trio are expected to join the team on Monday. As far as the Australian team is concerned, they will have a session at 10 am at the Holkar Stadium and India will have their session from 1:30 PM onwards.

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