Focus on Rohit, Gill as Indians hit the ground running

Canberra: The Indians were clearly happy to get back on the field after a three-day break on Friday. It was cloudy and overcast at the Manuka Oval in Canberra and by the time the Indians hit the field, it was drizzling as well.
But the Indians just wanted to get on with things. The practice pitches were covered when the team arrived but after a brief session on the ground, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma were the first into the nets and even though the groundsmen were a little concerned, there was no stopping the players.
India have three major areas of focus in their two-day tour game against the Prime Minister’s XI at the Manuka Oval which begins on Saturday.
First, they want to ensure skipper Rohit Sharma, who missed the first Test due to the birth of his child, was back upto speed. For only the second time on the tour, the Indian skipper had a session in the nets. There is still some time before the second Test at Adelaide and this will help him get a feel of the conditions.
“As you know, when Rohit Sharma comes, he brings a lot of laughter and keeps the atmosphere good,” said assistant coach Abhishek Nayar. “So, the atmosphere is very good in the team and we all know that Rohit was not there but still Rohit was with us. So, it wasn’t much of a difference.”
It wasn’t a very long session in the nets but Rohit also ran a few laps with Rishabh Pant before finally calling it a day.
Secondly, India will keep a close eye on Shubman Gill to see if he has recovered from the fracture on his left thumb. He had a good hit in the nets, slowly working his way up from throwdowns to facing the pacers. And for the most part, he looked rather comfortable in the middle.
“It seems that he will play in tomorrow’s match and chances are increasing for Adelaide,” said Nayar. “Our physio will do the evaluation after the indoor nets are over. But he was very comfortable while batting, and it seemed that he can bat.”
The third and most important thing to note during the game, which does have a rain cloud over it, will be to see how India copes with the pink ball. For now, Nayar and India don’t seem too worried about it.
“It’s a cricket ball, so the only effort is to adapt to the colour,” said Nayar. “And try to adapt to the lacquer on the ball. But in the 5-6 days we have, we will try to build up and acclimatise with it.”
There has been some talk about how the Aussies, having played way more day/night Tests than the Indians, will have an advantage in Adelaide. But the Indian team doesn’t want to get drawn into that debate now.
“When we discuss, we discuss about ourselves and think more about ourselves,” said Nayar. “And as a team, our thought has always been that what we have to do. Be it pink ball or red ball, the difference is only in the mindset. There is a slight difference in the ball, the colour is different and there is a slight lacquer on the ball. But that’s why we are lucky that we have 6-8 days to prepare. When we were in Perth even then we were practicing with pink ball.”
The only other thing that the Indian team would keep an eye on is workload management of the pacers. But Nayar feels that the team has had more than a decent rest and would like to at least get one spell out of each of the bowlers during the tour game.
“I think the good thing is that we’ve got some rest as well,” said Nayar. “The game got over in four days in Perth and we got three days after that. Today, the guys didn’t get much of a bowl because of the weather and the rain around.”
“I think the thought process is always about workload but at the same time, it is also about making sure that you are owning your skills and putting your body through the paces. Then, if the weather permits and we get two days… hopefully we can get the guys to get in at least one spell before we go to Adelaide.”