India’s recent intra-squad practice game against India A before the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, is not a good sign for the batsmen, many of whom have struggled.
In the first two days, some big players like Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, and Yashasvi Jaiswal suffered from players’ bowler nightmares in the coming series. Looking to build some form, KL Rahul limped off the field against India A bowlers and has not come back to bat. It is indeed heartening for the bowling coach Morne Morkel, especially Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini and Nitish Reddy, overpowered the batters for a notorious WACA wicket.
In Rahul’s condition, the BCCI brought information that the team is still evaluating the impact of the injury, and the medical team is supervising him. It also focussed on issues related to Virat Kohli, who had ‘scans’ for an unknown injury but was later seen in action on the grounds. But in a recent board meeting, the board stated that Kohli is not in any sort of pain and there is no serious concern about his fitness.
This warm-up match, which, of course, is in preparation for the Touring side for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, has been scheduled for three days from Friday through the weekend ending on Sunday. But will not be open for public use or even come into the public domain as such. For the Indian middle order, it would be a colourful opener where they can exercise their talents in preparation for the much-hyped series against the Australians.
Even though the Indian squad has been deprived of some of its key players, including Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin, the likes of KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Rishabh Pant prepared for the tour sweating it out in the nets.
Kohli, apart from a good showing in the first Test against West Indies, has been off-colour in the recent past and couldn’t do well in the late series against New Zealand, where he could score only one fifty and averaged a measly 21.33 in the last five Test matches. However, Kohli seems to have had a fair bit of success against Australia, notably, his first Test hundred in 2011/12 in Adelaide.
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