There were enough signs during India's first practice session at the Gabba in Brisbane on Thursday to indicate that captain Rohit Sharma will continue to bat at No.6 with KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal set to open in the third Test, starting Saturday (December 14). In a bold move after arriving in Australia before the second Test in Adelaide, Rohit decided to sacrifice his opening position and dropped down to No.6 to accommodate Rahul at the top of the order after his brilliant show in the first show.
The move did not yield results as neither Rahul nor Rohit got runs in their new positions. Rahul looked good in the first innings but was dismissed for 37 and in the second innings, he got out to a Pat Cummins bouncer for 7. Rohit, on the other hand, did not seem comfortable at all at No.6. Batting for the first time in the middle-order in six years, Rohit struggled against the moving pink ball. Scott Boland trapped him lbw in the first innings for 3, while Australia skipper Pat Cummins brought an end to his short but agonising stay in the innings for 6.
However, it appears that India are likely to stick with the same batting line-up at the Gabba. Rahul and Jaiswal were the first ones to have a hit in the practice session on Thursday. Rohit, however, entered the nets earlier than last time. He replaced Rahul and batted for some time before the latter went for another round of batting practice.
Virat Kohli gives pep talk, Jasprit Bumrah turns mentor
India's training began with a pep talk from Virat Kohli. The former India captain was seen delivering an animated speech to the team. Later, he had a long and intense batting session, nothing unusual from what he had been doing throughout the tour. He had conversations with assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate, trying to make sure he had a handle on exactly how he was reacting to certain kinds of deliveries. He has got out to similar deliveries in Perth and Adelaide.
{{/usCountry}}India's training began with a pep talk from Virat Kohli. The former India captain was seen delivering an animated speech to the team. Later, he had a long and intense batting session, nothing unusual from what he had been doing throughout the tour. He had conversations with assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate, trying to make sure he had a handle on exactly how he was reacting to certain kinds of deliveries. He has got out to similar deliveries in Perth and Adelaide.
{{/usCountry}}Jasprit Bumrah was in full mentor mode, giving Nitish Kumar Reddy some pointers on how to get the weight going in the right direction and get more pace into his delivery. The all-rounder has impressed one and all with his batting prowess lower down the order but his bowling needs to come good in order for India to strike the right balance.
Mohammed Siraj, who grabbed the spotlight for his heated altercation with Travis Head in Adelaide, spent a lot of time with India's video analyst Hari and bowling coach Morne Morkel, trying to perfect his release points to extract more swing.