Kolkata: It’s not exactly a hard reset, but a rare month-long break from international duty coupled with Rishabh Pant finally returning to red-ball cricket makes a fresh beginning as India prepare for the final lap of the World Test Championship points race. Bangladesh and New Zealand aren’t expected to stretch India at home, but considering a five-match tour of Australia beckons right after these rubbers, it’s imperative that India find their Test groove soon.

“It’s tough. Not easy when you haven’t played for eight months of Test cricket. But a lot of us have experienced this before,” said skipper Rohit Sharma two days before India take on Bangladesh in the home season opener in Chennai.

The camp in Chennai, however, helped. “We assembled here on the 12th and have had a good time spending hours on the field, getting everything together. Guys who have not played a lot of Test cricket went on to play the Duleep Trophy, which was good. So, in terms of preparation, I feel we are quite ready for this game and what lies ahead of us. So, it was a good little prep that we had before this Test match.”

India are looking at a busy calendar in the next three months. They first play Bangladesh in a two-Test series and a three-match T20I series before hosting New Zealand for three Tests that will end in the first week of November. They will then leave for Australia where India will play five Tests in eight weeks. The stakes are high as not only will India seek to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy they also have to be mindful of being consistent in winning to stay in the race for the World Test Championship final next year.

Which is why Sharma refuses to see the five Tests at home as a dress rehearsal for the Australia tour.

“Look, at the end of the day, you are playing for your country,” he told the news conference on Tuesday. “So, there is no dress rehearsal kind of stuff happening here. Every game that we play is important, and every game becomes important because of what is at stake. The World Test Championship, still the table is quite wide open, and you want to win every game. So, it doesn’t matter where we play in two months’ time. We want to win here. We want to win this Test match.”

One aspect in focus will be how Rohit Sharma, having bonded well with Rahul Dravid and won the T20 World Cup before he signed off as India coach, combines with Gautam Gambhir and the new support staff. Gambhir’s tenure got off to a shaky start after Sri Lanka’s one-day heist in Colombo. “The staff is new, but I know both Gautam Gambhir and Abhishek Nayar,” said Sharma.

“I have played quite a bit of cricket against (bowling coach) Morne Morkel; we’ve played some tough cricket against each other. I’ve also played, maybe a couple of games, against (assistant coach) Ryan (ten Doeschate), but the two of us had not spoken as much before. From what I experienced with him in Sri Lanka, I think he has a sensible and understanding personality, given the way he quickly started to understand things about the team.

“Sri Lanka was the first series, and now they are going to play their second series with the team. Everyone has their own style. Rahul (Dravid) bhai, Vikram Rathour and Paras Mhambrey, they had a different way of running the team, these guys will have a different style. So, it’s important for you to adjust. So far, there have been no problems or issues as a player. Like I said, if there is understanding, that’s the most important thing. And we have a good understanding.”

Which will be important not only from a strategy point of view but also on the matter of being on the same page about workload management ahead of the Australia tour. Sharma indicated he already has plans to protect some of his bowlers — chiefly Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, who could be second pacer if Mohammed Shami isn’t match-fit by then —to ensure they last the season.

“We have laid out some plans on how we are going to manage these bowlers,” said Sharma. “But again, it all depends on the workload that has been carried by them in these games. So yeah, we will monitor that. I think we have done that pretty well. Even when we played against England (at home this year), we managed to get Bumrah one Test match off. We managed to give Siraj one Test match off.

“You want your best players to play all the games, but that’s not possible because there is so much cricket that happens. It is not only Test cricket, there is T20 cricket happening (against Bangladesh and South Africa) in the middle of the Test series as well. So, you have got to understand everything, and then see what is best for the team and then manage your bowlers around it.”

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