Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Indian batters shift focus to red-ball preparations
Reeling from their humiliating 10-wicket defeat in the pink-ball Test, the under-fire Indian batters, led by Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, turned their attention to red-ball preparations with an intensive net session here on Tuesday, aiming to bounce back in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
While Australia moved to Brisbane for the third Test from Saturday, the Indian team chose to stay back, focusing on honing their red-ball skills, particularly their defensive techniques and judgment in leaving deliveries.
“It’s time to look ahead. Preparations for the Brisbane Test starts right here in Adelaide,” the BCCI posted on X, sharing a video of Team India’s practice.
Struggling with poor form, having scored just 142 runs with only one fifty (52) in his last 12 innings, the Indian skipper, who rejoined the team after the birth of his son, aimed to quickly regain his rhythm as he faced both Indian spinners and pacers.
After dropping down to No. 6, Rohit had scores of three and six in Adelaide. He was adjudged lbw to a fuller delivery that nipped back, while in the second essay he was cleaned up by his Aussie counterpart Pat Cummins with a length ball that held its line and clipped the off stump.
Kohli, who ended his 16-month century drought with a hundred in Perth, fell cheaply in both innings, edging to second slip in the first innings and then to the wicketkeeper in the second essay. The star Indian batter looked full of intent and had a watchful start to his net session before slowly finding his flow.
KL Rahul looked more subdued, focusing more on his defence, while Rishabh Pant played a few pick-up shots.
Young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who starred with a 161 in India’s massive 295-run win in the opening Test, was the aggressor, displaying his cheeky shots. He even stepped out to the Indian bowlers.
The bowling unit consisted of the likes of Harshit Rana, Akash Deep, Yash Dayal and the spin trio of Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Washington Sundar, while there were a few throwdown specialists as well.
The key Indian pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj along with seam-bowling allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy looked to have a lean day. India are scheduled to reach Brisbane on Wednesday.
Day 1 of Boxing Day Test sold out
Melbourne: Tickets for the opening day of the fourth Test between India and Australia at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground have sold out, highlighting the public’s strong interest in the prestigious Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The strong demand for tickets comes a couple of days after hosts Australia made a stunning comeback, handing India a 10-wicket defeat in Adelaide to level the five-match series 1-1. The two rivals will head to the MCG for the Boxing Day Test, starting December 26 after the third Test in Brisbane starting Saturday. “All available public tickets for Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test have been sold,” Cricket Australia posted on X on Tuesday. “There will be a possible final release of a small number of public tickets on December 24 for non-members to get their seats,” it added. The pink-ball Test in Adelaide drew a crowd of 135,012 across three days, setting a record turnout during a five-day game featuring the two sides.
Australia were stung by criticism: Gilchrist
Adelaide: Legendary wicketkeeper-batter Adam Gilchrist believes Australia were “stung” by the criticism following their loss in Perth, but have returned to their best, driven by captain Pat Cummins’ controlled aggression. “You could see just through his (Cummins) celebrations that… every wicket that he took he was more aggressive in his celebration,” Gilchrist said. “Not in that lose control extent but you could just see that clearly they’d been stung by a bit of criticism after their performance (in Perth) and they internally would have been so disappointed with the way they played in Perth. So it (Adelaide celebrations) showed you what it meant to them and they knew that they were back at the level they want to play their cricket,” Gilchrist added.
