Bumrah returns to the nets

Jasprit Bumrah returned to the nets for India's T20I against Afghanistan, showing strong form with an intense bowling session after recovering from injury.

New Delhi: Jasprit Bumrah was back in the nets on Thursday as India ramped up preparations for their first T20I against Afghanistan, putting the finishing touches to their plans with an intense session at the Arun Jaitley Stadium that combined fielding drills, match simulations and a substantial bowling workload.

India's Jasprit Bumrah. (AFP)

The sight of Bumrah with the ball in hand in the second net was the key takeaway from the session. The India pace spearhead, returning to the India set-up after he was ruled out from the third ODI against England in July with a knee injury and subsequently missed the two Tests against Sri Lanka, began bowling around 7:25pm and remained in the second net until approximately 8:10pm, getting through an extended spell as he worked with a number of the team’s batters.

Bumrah bowled to Sanju Samson and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi alongside pacer Arshdeep Singh. All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy also featured in the second-net bowling group. There was enough intensity in Bumrah’s outing to suggest a bowler going through a meaningful workload rather than merely turning his arm over to get back into rhythm.

Against Sooryavanshi, there was a nice little battle in the nets. Sooryavanshi had hit Bumrah for a first-ball six in the IPL this year and showed ease against him. This is the first time Bumrah and Sooryavanshi are playing together for India in T20Is. Bumrah beat the bat once and also produced a yorker that went through to Sooryavanshi. Three deliveries went down the leg side and the teenager had hit him for a backfoot punch once.

The bowling workload was preceded by an approximately 50-minute fielding session led by recently-appointed bowling coach Shubhadeep Ghosh involving all 15 members of the squad with drills with match-simulation components.

There will also be interest in India’s top-order combination, particularly whether they opt to field Ishan Kishan, Abhishek Sharma and Sooryavanshi together. Sharma, however, spent a substantial part of the session with the ball, turning his arm over as an off-spinner.

He batted in the second net towards the end of the session. Bowling coach Morne Morkel was again absent from the bowling area, missing his second consecutive session for India.

Apart from Sooryavanshi and Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube and Axar Patel also had batting sessions. Despite returning from an intense few days at the Duleep Trophy, Varma, Sooryavanshi and Kishan appeared in good touch after arriving earlier on Thursday.

Kishan, fresh from a match-winning double century for East Zone, in particular looked in full flow against the spinners. However, he seemed to have pulled his back while facing Navdeep Saini. He did not return to bat but it did not appear to be a serious injury.

However, it was Bumrah’s return to a full-blooded net session that provided the clarity that India’s pace spearhead is looking ready to go.

Hosts Afghanistan trained earlier from 3pm until rain forced them off at 5:30pm.