India Nets Nuggets: Rohit Sharma’s Batting Masterclass for Shreyas Iyer, High Intensity From Seamers And More – News18

Shreyas Iyer finished his long batting session, got the pads off and rushed straight to Rohit Sharma after a quick hydration pause. The Mumbai boys didn’t leave each other’s company for the next thirty minutes and it was Iyer who did all the listening as Rohit gave him a batting masterclass.

From the bat position while defending the ball to leaving rising deliveries to the trademark Rohit pickup off the pads, the duo was at it. Not once during the conversation did they look to lose interest. The bat changed hands quite a few times during the discussion but Rohit ensured to drive home his point to his younger teammate.

It wasn’t a regular net day for Rohit where he would generally bat for a long duration. The skipper seemed relaxed as he gently strolled in the practice area before heading to the main ground where players, after finishing their net hit, did high catching under lights and did a lot of range hitting.

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Like Rohit, Kuldeep too stayed away from action in the net area. The chinaman chose to do some fielding and fitness drills in the main ground and didn’t even enter the training area where most of his teammates were sweating it out.

Seamers breathe fire

Two names certainly were sweating it out today and bowled with a lot of fire to the likes of Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer. Both Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj bowled long spells and with a lot of intensity. Bumrah in particular was very sharp against Kohli and was hitting the right areas on a consistent basis.

From how the events unfolded at the nets, it’s very likely that both Bumrah and Siraj will start and Mohammed Shami, who started bowling only when the pair was done, could well warm the bench. Another toss-up is going to between Shardul Thakur and R Ashwin and that call is looking in the offie’s favour.

Ashwin bowls non-stop

There was no pause button in Ashwin today. The veteran spinner bowled non-stop and hardly took a break. He would continue to try different things, explore different angles but just didn’t stop. After a long spell to Kohli, Kishan and Iyer, he bowled to KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav next.

He wasn’t done even when his bowling was done as he next put the pads on, adjusted grip on the bat and made way to the main ground. Drenched in sweat after a long spell with the ball, the 37-year-old looked high on energy when he paused briefly for a chat with journalists standing near the exit gate of the practice area.

Not just how he has been bowling in the nets but the composition of Australia’s squad and how he fared against them in the ODIs is going to play a major role in that Playing XI call.

Ishan continues to open in the nets

For two days on the trot, Ishan Kishan has been part of the batch which opens the net session. On both days, he has faced a mix of seam, spin and side-arm action and has largely looked in control. He fancied the big hits against the spinners but looked to get into good positions while facing the likes of Bumrah and Siraj.

For an extended period today, Ishant faced lot of music from the left-arm throwdown specialist, possibly as a preparation for Mitchell Starc, and didn’t try anything extravagant. It was all about getting behind line of the ball and making sweet connection.

Something India would hope he makes if Shubman Gill, who missed today’s session too, fails to recover in time from dengue fever.