Just one day before the Indian team’s planned departure for Sri Lanka, on Monday, August 3, KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal were seen working out in the nets in Mumbai. The two openers decided to practise at an academy in Bandra that has a temporary roof so that training could go on despite the bad weather, as the city was experiencing cloudy sky and sporadic rain.
For the past few days, the two usual openers for India have been spotted exercising at the Wings Sports Centre in Bandra West, a multipurpose facility with specialised cricket nets run by former India batsman Jatin Paranjape. Private net sessions prior to an international tour are common, but what made these sessions unique was their whole concentration on dealing with spin.
The two openers, who would often be expected to spend time practicing against the new ball, were bowled to by a set of Mumbai spinners, including Mumbai mainstay Tanush Kotian. However, Rahul and Jaiswal’s selection of bowlers to take on was not unexpected given that spin was predicted to dominate the two-Test series in Sri Lanka. The category included off-spinners, leg-spinners, and left-arm spinners.
Over the past few days, they have been visiting here frequently. Former India selector Paranjape told Cricbuzz, “Jaiswal was here two days ago, Rahul came yesterday, and they trained together today.” “It’s not surprising that they were practising against spin, given the conditions they expect to encounter in the series.”
“I regularly train at Jatin Sir’s academy,” Kotian continued. One of the few places where we may practise during the monsoon is this one.
Yashasvi and Rahul have been working with us over the past few days, and the wicket there provides lots of turn.”
It’s interesting to note that Kotian, who is believed to have been disappointed not to be selected for the Sri Lanka tour, will still be travelling with the Indian team. The selectors selected Kotian (offspin), Vipraj Nigam (legspin), Shivang Kumar (left-arm wrist spin), and Harsh Dubey (left-arm orthodox) to accompany the team as net bowlers in order to provide the batters with every type of spin they might encounter during the series. They will team up with players like Saransh Jain, Manav Suthar, Kuldeep Yadav, and Ravindra Jadeja.
The majority of the players travelling to Sri Lanka have gathered in Mumbai, and the group is expected to take a charter flight to Colombo late on Tuesday night. However, it is unclear if Sai Sudharsan, whose selection was contingent on fitness clearance, will accompany the team on Tuesday. If not on Tuesday, sources close to the left-hander are still optimistic that he will join the squad later this week.
India will play two Test matches in Sri Lanka, the first from August 15–19 in Galle and the second from August 23–27 in Colombo. Prior to that, on August 7, they will play a three-day warm-up game in Colombo.
