The Indian cricket team players trained in the nets as star batter Virat Kohli was the man in focus as he worked hard to get himself ready for left-arm seamers against South Africa in the second Test in Cape Town. Kohli scored 38 and 76 in the opening Test, he looked fluent in the second innings and scored boundaries at regular intervals when other batters struggled to get going.
Kohli looked in good touch during the net session and got himself ready for the young Proteas bowling sensation Nandre Burger who had a dream debut in the series opener.
First, he was at the centre nets against bowlers and then he faced high-intensity throwdowns for about 20 to 25 minutes at outside nets.
Kohli is known to come to nets with a specific purpose and on Monday, it seemed he wanted to extensively bat against a left-arm pacer.
Since the Indian team’s pace bowling roster doesn’t include a left-armer, a net bowler was summoned and Kohli faced a good 25 to 30 deliveries from him in between playing against Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, R Ashwin and Avesh Khan.
Kohli was repeatedly seen putting in a big stride forward and at times walking a couple of steps to whip the bowler through mid wicket.
However, the only problem here was that the youngster provided by Cricket South Africa (CSA) was at least 15 clicks lesser in terms of pace compared to Burger, who took seven wickets on debut in the opening Test at Centurion.
The net bowler’s lack of pace allowed Kohli to read the inswing and then walk down a couple of steps to flick him through mid wicket.
Also Read | Sunil Gavaskar Suggests 2 Changes in IND’s XI For 2nd Test vs SA
Meanwhile, the Proteas pacemen in the Test squad have good pace to back their swing bowling which won’t Kohli to play them that easily.
A six off Ashwin was majestic and the way he played Bumrah, with so much time at his disposal, was a treat.
Iyer’s shortcoming
Middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer had a forgettable outing in the first Test as he came out in the nets to test himself against the short balls.
Iyer’s weakness against short ball is well documented. But the Mumbaikar wasn’t amused one bit when the question cropped up during the ODI World Cup at home.
However, the Centurion Test once again exposed his shortcomings against bounce.
He continues to have serious issues while facing anything that’s remotely above his waist-line. He looked iffy while batting and as Nuwan Senaviratne, the Sri Lankan left-arm side-armer, bowled one from 18 yards, Iyer reacted late while trying to pull the delivery and was hit on the fleshy part of the stomach.
For a brief period, he stopped batting, looked in pain and was given water before he resumed his job.
All three throwdown specialists bowled to him from 18 yards, and he didn’t for once look solid and display enough confidence even though he is an automatic choice in this playing XI.
Shardul bats in the nets
Shardul Thakur, who sustained an injury on the shoulder on Saturday, returned to training but only as a batter.
He wasn’t seen bowling but did bat at centre net as well as throwdown nets.
He didn’t seem in any discomfort and was looking good as he tackled the short balls.
(With PTI Inputs)
Comments
0 comment