Ahead of the first day of the first Test match of a series, times have changed to the extent that missing or attending a single day's practice does not especially matter to India
Team India captain Virat Kohli (left) and newly-appointed head coach Ravi Shastri have something to laugh about during the team’s nets session at the Galle International Cricket Stadium yesterday. Pic/AFP
On a humid Tuesday afternoon, when India turned up at the Galle International Stadium for their pre-match practice session, there was far less hustle and bustle in the nets. While the support staff, 11 at last count, was out in full force, the players were comfortably outnumbered. This was because the practice session was for batsmen and all-rounders only, the bowlers putting their feet up ahead of three weeks of toil ahead.
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While old fashioned coaches may not quite agree with giving the bowlers time off ahead of an important assignment, on the eve of the first day of the first Test match of a series, times have changed to the extent that missing or attending a single day's practice does not especially matter.
Top-heavy batting side
What was a touch surprising about this, however, was the fact that India's batting line-up is the one that wears a settled look, with KL Rahul's untimely viral fever all but cementing the top six. Shikhar Dhawan and Abhinav Mukund, the two specialist openers, would be in harness, if Virat Kohli's pre-match pronouncements were anything to go by.
Cheteshwar Pujara, Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane make up the engine-room of the batting, leaving only the No. 6 slot up for grabs. The choice here is a tricky one, with Hardik Pandya set to get the nod ahead of Rohit Sharma. Given the physically draining conditions and the strong likelihood that the pitch would be a good one for batting, Kohli was keen to keep as many bowling options open as possible.
"The last time (in Sri Lanka) we felt that we were probably a batsman short in the first Test and the fifth bowler didn't do much in the game," said Kohli. In the first innings then, Amit Mishra bowled only six overs, while in the second, Varun Aaron bowled only seven.
Pandya provides great balance
"We have great balance in the side. We've got a guy like Hardik Pandya who is a wicket-taking bowler. Every game that he plays, on any surface, he has a knack of picking wickets. He has a great chance of playing. In the next two games on that tour we played an all-rounder (Stuart Binny) and that made all the difference.
"The extra batsman would give us more solidity. We've taken learnings from that and we'll surely apply those straight away in the series instead of getting a feel of how things will go. You need to have your best strike bowlers in order to pick up 20 wickets," added the skipper. Kohli prides himself at keeping his cards close to his chest in press conferences, but his words here in Galle suggested that Mohammad Shami, the strike bowler, would partner Umesh Yadav, the reverse swing specialist, with R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja providing slow bowling.
All eyes on Herath
Sri Lanka, for their part, were far less settled, pneumonia laying Dinesh Chandimal low, leaving the ageless and tireless Rangana Herath as leader of the team.
To replace Chandimal the batsman, Sri Lanka will choose between the uncapped Danushka Gunethilaka, and Dhananjaya de Silva. Suranga Lakmal, nursing a niggle, should still play ahead of Lahiru Kumara, with Nuwan Pradeep completing the set.
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