At a picture-postcard venue, India preferred to sweat it out. Shubman Gill’s men buckled down at the nets, focusing on their training in the lead-up to the first Test commencing here during the weekend. Around them, the Galle International Stadium was being spruced up while broadcast crews got busy setting up their equipment here on Thursday.
The odd sorties with a football and fielding drills were the preferred initial exercises. The think tank of coach Gautam Gambhir, captain Gill and chief selector Ajit Agarkar had a look at the pitch, which was a dull shade of brown in contrast to the lush green outfield.
The focus in catching emphasised on being ambidextrous as fielders were encouraged to do one-handed catches with either hand. Reactions to the ricochet effect when a ball deflects off the stumps were also sharpened, as fielding coach Subhadeep Ghosh maintained intensity.
Later, the players trooped into the adjacent nets and openers K.L. Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal countered the usual medley of pace, spin and throw-downs. Rishabh Pant, Dhruv Jurel, Gill and Devdutt Padikkal too had their stints. These batters could well be top-six for India. Sarfaraz Khan, who replaced the injured B. Sai Sudarshan in the squad, also turned up.
Among the bowlers, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna led the seamers, while Kuldeep Yadav turned his arm over in the spinners’ corner. Perhaps due to striving for that extra yard of pace, some of India’s speedsters overstepped in their final delivery stride. Hopefully this aberration will not be repeated against the Sri Lankans.
When the afternoon sun amplified the heat, Pant worked on his wicket-keeping drills, against a tennis ball. Gradually all the players sought relief in the air-conditioned dressing room while some tourists got busy flying kites from the nearby Dutch fort.
