India’s first official press conference of their long tour of Australia on Wednesday afternoon was to have been addressed by senior off-spinner R Ashwin at the Optus Stadium in Perth, a little before their scheduled 2 pm practice session. Instead of the engineer from Chennai, however, Morne Morkel, the bowling coach of the national team, fronted up for that responsibility, prompting one Australian journalist to ask the former South African paceman if it was all part of ‘gamesmanship’, the late change in personnel.

“No, not at all,” smiled Morkel, pointing out that a couple of team meetings soon after the Indians hit the ground went longer than expected, leaving Ashwin with little time to meet the media before going to the nets.

The Indian nets have been the object of much conjecture in the Australian media. During their initial training stints at the WACA ground, just across the Swan River from the monstrous Optus Stadium, the Indians tried to keep their sessions under wraps, barring even construction workers from taking photos and videos though an official communication from the Board of Control for Cricket in India refuted those charges.

On Wednesday, two days before the first Test against Australia, India opened their practice session to the entire media contingent. Perhaps belatedly, they endorsed Australian quick Josh Hazlewood’s views that there are ‘no secrets’ anymore in the world of cricket, not with so much data and information and visuals to go by.

Shubman Gill unlikely to play in Perth

The Indian stint was brisk and businesslike with the entire contingent, including reserve pacers Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini and Yash Dayal (flown in from South Africa after original reserve Khaleel Ahmed had to fly back home with an injury) and injured No. 3 Shubman Gill, in attendance. Gill was largely a spectator, nursing a hairline fracture to his left thumb sustained in the match simulation exercise against India ‘A’ last week. Despite Morkel’s optimism that he was getting better and might yet be in the fray for the Test starting on Friday, it’s pretty much certain that he won’t be seen in action before Canberra, and the two-night warm-up game against an Australian Prime Minister’s XI next week.

Gill’s misfortune could open the door to a Test recall for Devdutt Padikkal, the tall left-hander from Karnataka who has now been officially added to the Indian Test squad. Padikkal impressed on debut against England in Dharamsala when he made 63 but has missed the last five Tests. He is comfortable against pace and played in both of India ‘A’s games against Australia ‘A’ in the last fortnight, making 88 in the second innings of the first of two defeats, and was unhurried at the nets on Wednesday when spicy tracks greeted first Pat Cummins’ outfit in the morning, and then India’s batters in the afternoon.

Jaiswal in discomfort; Jurel, Kohli look good

India unloaded most of their big batting guns up front. Yashasvi Jaiswal had several moments of discomfort against the pacers in the nearest of four nets, but Dhruv Jurel, KL Rahul and, most significantly, Virat Kohli all moved beautifully, their footwork precise and their judgement of length immaculate. Kohli was in the wars against Mukesh Kumar specifically the previous morning but seemed totally at home this time around, testing out one bat after another and meeting the ball with the meat of every blade he picked up.

If anything, Jurel was even more switched on. Like Padikkal, he has been forced to warm the bench since March following the return to action of Rishabh Pant and has patiently bided his time. He played two excellent hands for India ‘A’ in Melbourne not long back and is being looked at as a specialist batter ahead of Sarfaraz Khan, among the later batters to hit the nets just before Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

Washington Sundar was also an early entrant into the fray and again looked in control in the land where he announced himself, unexpectedly, in Test cricket in 2021. After his heroics in the last two Tests against New Zealand, Washington has made himself hard to ignore though he has stiff competition for the all-rounders’ slot from Nitish Kumar Reddy, who too batted for a long time and whose bowling offers a fourth fast-medium option where Washington can slot in as the second spinner.

Primed for his second Test as captain, Jasprit Bumrah appeared to be enjoying the challenge as he went about his bowling with a broad smile on his lips. Bumrah made everyone hurry with his accuracy and fizz, the battle between him and Kohli an intriguing backdrop against which the rest of the extended session played itself out. Not a bad way for the two stalwarts to ready themselves for the brutal battles ahead.

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