Subhayan Chakraborty at Eden Gardens
Following the conclusion of the Eden Gardens Test, where South Africa secured a historic 30-run victory in just three days to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, several Indian players, particularly the middle-order batters, returned to the nets in Kolkata on Tuesday for a practice session. Six players, including Ravindra Jadeja, Sai Sudharsan, Washington Sundar, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel, and Akash Deep, attended the optional net session.
India’s Test captain Shubman Gill is in all certainty ruled out of the second game in Guwahati, starting November 22, after suffering a neck spasm while batting in the first innings at Eden Gardens. Although he was discharged from a Kolkata hospital after a day’s observation and the pain has subsided somewhat, Gill is still experiencing discomfort in his neck. With Gill unlikely to play, India’s immediate priority is to stabilise their batting line-up.
At Eden Gardens, India fielded six left-handers in their batting order, and South African off-spinner Simon Harmer exploited this weakness brilliantly, claiming eight wickets to earn the Player of the Match award. Six of his eight victims were left-handed batters. Even part-time off-spinner Aiden Markram picked up a wicket in his three overs. After Gill’s departure in the second innings, Dhruv Jurel was promoted to No. 4, but the next four batters were all left-handers. Notably, Nitish Kumar Reddy has been summoned and will join the squad in Kolkata on Tuesday, though he did not participate in the training session.
Attention at the nets was primarily on Sai Sudharsan and Devdutt Padikkal, with one of them expected to replace Gill in the playing XI. Both faced plenty of throwdowns and deliveries from local spinners. Interestingly, Dhruv Jurel even bowled some off-spin to Sai. Ravindra Jadeja focused exclusively on facing the throwdown specialists, while Raghu, Nuwan, and Dayanand Garani later bowled spin to him. However, if either Sai or Padikkal comes in for Gill, India will have seven left-handers in their top order, an imbalance that makes Nitish Kumar Reddy a strong candidate for selection.
Members of the Indian coaching staff were deeply engaged in discussions throughout the session, closely monitoring the batters. At one point, head coach Gautam Gambhir shared a warm exchange and a hug with Eden Gardens curator Sujan Mukherjee during a brief catch-up.
Ultimately, the primary objective of the net session was to keep the middle-order batters sharp and on their toes, as India look to avoid another humiliating home series defeat in Test cricket.
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