NEW DELHI: Some time after India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate addressed the media at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, the Men in Blue were going through their matchday minus two drills. As the sun went down on a genteel late winter day, Ishan Kishan was among the first to pad up. However, his partner at the top, Abhishek Sharma, was nowhere to be seen.
Sharma, who didn't take the field during the second innings against the USA in Mumbai, had been down with a stomach issue and did not come to the ground with the team. Earlier, Ten Doeschate had explained that the left-hander was still down and because of the issue. “Abhi still got a few issues with his tummy. We hope that he'll be available for the game in a few days' time,” the assistant coach said.
While the clash against Namibia is only on Thursday and Sharma may recover in time, it should not come as a surprise should the opener miss the contest. After all, the last thing the team management would want is not to have the services of the explosive opener when they take the field against Pakistan in Colombo on Sunday. Which is why Sanju Samson had a stint with Kishan, to ensure he would be ready if pressed into service on Thursday. The Kerala batter looked rusty and was struggling to time the ball while Kishan and Tilak Varma were sending the balls into the stands regularly.
Then, the focus shifted to Jasprit Bumrah, who, according to Ten Doeschate, has not bowled in ten days. The last time Bumrah bowled was during the fifth T20I against New Zealand in Thiruvananthapuram. In the days that followed, Bumrah stayed with the team but didn’t bowl. When he missed the USA match, the BCCI had said that it was due to “illness” and did not clarify on the specifics.
On Tuesday, Ten Doeschate said: “Bumrah will bowl today as well. He has been off 10 days without bowling, but he's feeling a lot better and moving a lot better. So we'll see how training goes for them and get the team together.” Later, Bumrah slowly warmed up with what seemed like spot bowling drills on either side of the training pitches while chatting with bowling coach Morne Morkel and head coach Gautam Gambhir. After a while, he went back to the dugout and came back with a different pair of shoes.
He then bowled on one of the training pitches with Morkel watching over. In between, he was in conversation with with Morkel and his teammates before running in. As the training progressed, he started bowling with more intensity to skipper Suryakumar Yadav. Varma too faced a fair bit of Bumrah as the premier pacer smoothly got through the crease and hit the deck hard. After what seemed like a good half hour, he went back to the dressing room.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the nets, Gambhir had his eyes on Washington Sundar, who had joined the team in New Delhi after being out of action for the past month due to a rib injury he had suffered during the South Africa series. He, too, went through the fielding drills before rolling his arm consistently on one side of the training pitch, along with the other spinners in the squad.
India have a long campaign ahead of them. And they would not want to risk any of the three key players this early into the tournament. If things go as per plan, they may end up facing Australia, South Africa and West Indies in the Super eights apart from the clash against Pakistan on Sunday. Which is why chief selector Ajit Agarkar, who is with the team, and coach Gambhir will keep a close eye on all three of Bumrah, Sharma and Washington over the next few days. They have already had an injury replacement in Mohammed Siraj for Harshit Rana and would not want to lose either of those stars or Washington to injury when the key matches come along.