Bowlers shine, batsmen struggle in ‘one-hour challenge’ at preparatory camp
In preparation for the four-Test tour to the West Indies, coach Anil Kumble put the squad through a simulation exercise on the penultimate day of the preparation camp at Bengaluru. The bowling department looked in good flow, while the batting display would have raised concerns for Kumble.
On the penultimate day of the preparatory camp in Bengaluru, the Indian team travelled to the open ground in Alur, 25kms away from the city, to participate in a Test cricket simulation exercise, where the batting department was put to the test against India’s bowlers. Instead of a conventional practice game, each batsman was asked to negotiate a trio of fast bowlers followed by a trio of spin bowlers for half-an-hour each to prepare for the upcoming Test series, reported India Today.
Openers Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan faced the fast bowling trio of Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the first half hour followed by another half hour of spin from Amit Mishra, Ravindra Jadeja, and R Ashwin. Vijay, who has been a consistent player for India in Tests, looked out of touch and was castled by Ishant, while he threw away his wicket once to a run-out too. Dhawan has been practising hard on his batting in the last few days and looked confident against the pacers before gifting his wicket away to Ashwin.
All eyes were on captain Virat Kohli and the skipper looked in a good groove against the
Also read: Not just Saina, it’s time India adopted Kohli’s attitude
Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, who faced Shardul Thakur, Varun Aaron, Mohammed Shami, Stuart Binny, and the spin trio of Jayant Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem, and Vijay, looked the most comfortable in the middle during the exercise, said a report in India Today.
Also read: Sachin v Kohli - The end to the endless debate on who is the greater of the two