Less than 48 hours after lifting the Asia Cup, India’s Test squad was back in training for the first of two Tests against the West Indies, starting Thursday in Ahmedabad. Three senior players were given a breather, while the rest of the squad, led by captain Shubman Gill and coach Gautam Gambhir, spent close to three hours at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The short turnaround from the Asia Cup final on Sunday has already put the focus on player workload. The session began with light drills before the batters occupied the nets. Among them, openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul looked fluent, as did wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel, who recently captained India A. Middle-order options B Sai Sudharsan and Devdutt Padikkal also appeared solid. Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel missed out on the session to rest. Gill, however, endured a testing time. The skipper faced a few close calls, edging deliveries from both pacers and throwdown specialists. At one point, a rising ball struck his gloves near chest height. Despite the challenges, Gill kept rotating between nets to face pace, spin and throwdowns in his preparation for what will be his first home Test as captain. Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna, fresh from India A duty against Australia A, bowled sharp spells of nearly 45 minutes each. Gambhir, who had inspected the pitch on arrival, returned for another close look once training wrapped up. The only real selection question for India appears to be the extra batter slot. Devdutt Padikkal, coming off a 150 in the first unofficial Test against Australia A, looked in fine touch in the nets. Nitish Reddy, who also impressed with the ball alongside Siraj and Prasidh, offers a seam-bowling option.
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The rest of the line-up looks settled, with Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Siraj and Bumrah expected to form the core, while Kuldeep Yadav’s recent form makes him a potential key weapon against a West Indies side short on experience in Indian conditions. West Indies, meanwhile, had to cut their outdoor practice short due to rain and trained indoors for barely half an hour.
