Batters adapting to longest format, bowlers building workload and focus on close-in fielding
Portsmouth: The Indian team is focussing on building workload for the bowlers, who had an extensive run in the IPL, ahead of the World Test Championship final against Australia starting on June 7 at The Oval in London, a PTI report in The Tribbune, Chandigarh, says
In the bowling department, while the likes of Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Jaydev Unadkat and Umesh Yadav were part of the first batch to travel to England, pace spearhead Mohammed Shami’s departure was delayed after the IPL final in Ahmedabad was delayed by a day due to rain
Virat Kohli was among tplayers who left in the first batch along with the Rahul Dravid-led coaching staff. Kohli joined the camp on Monday, May 28, along with Cheteshwar Pujara, already in England playing County Championship for Sussex.
Also joined the squad there.
The Indian team is expected to have a few practice sessions at the Arundel Castle Cricket Club in Sussex ahead of the big final.
“The preparation has been good so far,” said India’s bowling coach Paras Mhambrey. “The initial bit was to ease into the practice session but the last two sessions … I think we pushed them a little bit. Just adding a little bit of workload for the bowlers, just kind of preparing them for the Test match”.
“We are happy with the conditions, I think it is a lovely ground, it is kind of what you can expect. The weather is holding up, it has been sunny, a little windy, a little chill, but something that we have to get used to when playing in England,” he added.
Fielding coach T Dilip said the focus will be on close-in catching. “The players are coming from the IPL so a key thing for us to take care of was the workload. Ground fielding has been covered in the IPL, so the focus here is more on the volume of catching, especially the close-in catching,” Dilip said.
Batting coach Vikram Rathour said the focus will also be on adapting to the longest format. “They have all played a lot of cricket. Whatever time we are getting, it is about adapting to a different format, getting used to playing with the red ball and getting a few sessions in and getting used to the format,” Rathour said.
Indian conditions at Oval?
London: Australia’s batting mainstay Steve Smith is expecting batting-friendly conditions at The Oval for the WTC final but feels they could face conditions similar to those in India as the game goes on. The venue offers one of the best batting conditions in the UK with true pace and bounce.
India are expected to play their frontline spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to make the most of the conditions.
“The Oval can present itself with some spin occasionally particularly as the game wears on so we could face some sort of similarities to what we had in India at certain stages of the game,” Smith said.
Former selector approves of Umesh’s selection over Shardul
New Delhi: Former India selector Sarandeep Singh said picking KS Bharat over Ishan Kishan as the wicketkeeper for the WTC final is a no-brainer and he would also choose Umesh Yadav over Shardul Thakur in the Playing XI.
“Bharat is a proper Test wicketkeeper and we saw that against Australia at home, he kept superbly. He has been around for a while and he should get the opportunity,” Sarandeep said.
“While Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj will share the workload in the pace department, the team will need to choose between Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur as the third fast-bowling option. “I am picking Umesh ahead of Shardul because he has that extra pace and he can reverse the old ball, he can be very helpful on that Oval track,” he said.
Hazlewood praises Kohli’s work ethic
London: Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood has spoken highly of Royal Challengers Bangalore teammates Virat Kohli ahead of the World Test Championship final. “I think it’s probably how hard he (Kohli) works that stands out. His fitness first of all and then his skill work and batting and fielding in particular. He is always out there (training) first and leaves last … and the intensity he trains at all the time is at such a high level, it drags everyone else along for the ride.”
*******************************************************
Readers
These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.
Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world. We have taken the small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.
Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.
In these difficult times, to run a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will makes a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.
For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com