PUNE: Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were among the first to hit the nets at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Tuesday evening. Situated next to NH48 on the outskirts of the city, the vast open venue does not have separate outdoor nets.
India’s top three, essentially, had open nets on the square with the main surface for the Bangladesh game between them. Just behind the nets were T Dilip and Shardul Thakur. The fielding coach had specific drills for the seamer as he had to run and collect the ball from a short distance before aiming for a direct hit on either side at about 45 degrees. It continued for a while before Thakur was sent back to the ropes to take catches and run in and collect the ball before throwing it back in full tilt. This fielding drill for Thakur went on for about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, in the nets, Kohli was batting against net bowlers and R Ashwin, and he was timing the ball well. Rohit, facing Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah, was cautiously leaving and picking the balls to play his shots. Gill was facing throwdowns and Hardik Pandya. While Gill took his time to find his groove — Siraj and Mohammed Shami troubled him a bit — once he did, he was smashing the ball into the stands in the square. The top three changed nets and sweat it out for about 30 minutes. They did the fielding routines after which Kohli and Gill came back for a shorter hit.
Meanwhile, Ravindra Jadeja spent a lot of time facing Ashwin and the spinners among net bowlers. The most interesting part, however, was Sharma rolling his arm in the nets. The captain bowled off-spin for about 10-15 minutes with Pandya hitting him into the stands. In what was an optional practice session on match day minus two, the entire squad was at the ground, preparing for what could be a tricky contest against Bangladesh on Thursday.