By Subhayan Chakraborty at Eden Gardens
As the Indian team stepped onto Eden Gardens, the first visuals showed the entire coaching staff, including head coach Gautam Gambhir, Ryan ten Doeschate, Sitanshu Kotak, and Morne Morkel, heading straight to the centre pitch along with curator Sujan Mukherjee. As the discussion continued over the match strip, they were joined by BCCI curators Ashish Bhowmick and Tapas Chatterjee. Soon, captain Shubman Gill and vice-captain Rishabh Pant joined the discussion, which lasted for around half an hour. Going by the visuals, Pant and the support staff appeared to have slight concerns about one particular spot on the Eden pitch.
After the discussion, the focus shifted to the nets, with only Gill, Pant, KL Rahul, Axar Patel, Akash Deep, Sai Sudharsan, and Kuldeep Yadav present at the optional session. Gambhir was at his active best as he held several conversations with Gill, Pant, and Kuldeep. When Kuldeep was bowling to Rahul, Gambhir constantly offered words of advice to the left-arm wrist-spinner. With the curators allowing ample sunlight in the last couple of days, the Eden Gardens pitch is expected to be on the drier side. Gambhir’s animated chat with Kuldeep suggests that the spinner could get the nod ahead of Axar Patel in the playing XI, with the hosts likely to prefer the troika of Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, and Kuldeep for the variety they bring and the added batting depth.
After Kuldeep, Gambhir shifted his focus to Gill, having multiple discussions around his batting and, more importantly, his front-foot technique. When the Indian captain moved to a different net to face Kuldeep, Axar, and a couple of local net bowlers, a left-arm spinner and a right-arm off-spinner, Gambhir watched the proceedings closely. As soon as Gambhir spotted an error in technique, he was quick to step in and talk to Gill. The Indian skipper, on the eve of the game, mostly focused on his front-foot defence as he switched back to the Test format after a gruelling white-ball tour of Australia.
For Gambhir, the intensity remains intact as India eye crucial World Test Championship points against the Test champions, South Africa.
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