Mukund, Dhawan and Rahul - Kohli spoilt for choice
India chief coach certain Virat Kohli & Co will achieve laurels that no Indian team ever has
level. Their main challenge will start later this season when they start touring South Africa and England. But Shastri was upbeat and saw an opportunity in it.
“Like I said earlier in the press conference, this team has been with each other for two years and is much more experienced now. They have already done things that a lot of Indian teams and a lot of big names couldn’t do in their careers. For example, win a series here (in Sri Lanka) for 20 years.
“A lot of big names have played for 20 years, they have come to Sri Lanka many times and have never won a series. But they have done that. They have won a one-day series in 20 years which a lot of teams haven’t done. This team is used to doing things that a lot of other teams haven’t done and that too overseas. Forget Australia, I am not even touching the Australia tour, so when you say overseas like South Africa, England, it is a lot of tough cricket coming up and I see it as an opportunity. I am very positive here that this team can do things that probably no other Indian team has done.”
Ashwin climbed up to the second spot of the Test bowlers’ list following yet another solid performance against Sri Lanka in Galle while India’s opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan moved up 21 spots, according to the latest International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings. Ravindra Jadeja continued to hold on to the top spot of Test bowlers.
Jadeja has 897 points, followed by
Ashwin at second spot with 849 points. In third spot is Rangana Herath, who is in doubt for the second Test
against India, starting
Having gained in confidence after the second-innings knock at Galle, Abhinav Mukund started the nets session assuredly at the Sinhalese Sports Club Stadium on Tuesday, but as soon as chief coach Ravi Shastri came in and stood behind the wickets, the tentativeness surfaced, a natural reaction, so to say.
Suddenly, Abhinav was a batsman who was aware that he was on test. The flow evaporated and it took some time before he started batting with confidence. After a two-day break, the Indian team had a gruelling training session on Tuesday. There was a lot of intensity, be it in fielding and catching drills or sharpening skills with bat and ball.
However, the spotlight remained on the opening batsmen, with Shastri keeping a close watch on KL Rahul, Abhinav and Shikhar Dhawan. He made them bat in pairs, rotating strike every 6-7 balls, pitting them against pace bowlers with one side of the net open to play strokes. Captain Virat Kohli too bowled a longish spell to them.
With Shastri tracking every movement, Dhawan and Abhinav batted with restraint, playing correctly against the likes of Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma and Hardik Pandya, while Dhawan lashed out at anything pitched on the leg stump.
Except for inside edges on to the pads off incoming deliveries, the two openers would have passed the test. It means all three are in contention for the second Test.
Going by form, Dhawan is ahead, but Abhinav’s fielding has got the team management thinking. The importance of a good short-leg fielder for spinners is not lost. If Dhawan hit a blazing 190 at Galle, Abhinav added two dismissals to his 81 in the second innings with a spectacular effort at short-leg.
For Rahul, it’s about proving his fitness. If he lives up to the rigours of the training session, he should be an automatic choice, meaning a straight shootout between the left-handed pair of Abhinav and Dhawan.
Shastri said they were monitoring Rahul’s fitness closely. “He (Rahul) is good. We are watching him closely. He went through some tough times, he was in hospital for 2-3 days, obviously it has taken a lot out of him. So, we have to be very careful how we treat him; we are watching him closely and he is getting better by the day.”
When you say overseas like South Africa, England, it is a lot of tough cricket and I see it as an opportunity
I didn’t see any change, the nucleus of the team is pretty much the same and I know what to expect from them, they know what to expect from me