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Pant fitter than ever, Jurel to keep his place, and pitch talk: Highlights from India practice at Eden Gardens

November 12, 2025
<a href="https://revsportz.in/author/gargi/" rel="author" class="url fn n" itemprop="url"><img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/c82efe6b0d1207eb92b3612f62c3c413?s=32&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/c82efe6b0d1207eb92b3612f62c3c413?s=64&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-32 photo' height='32' width='32' decoding='async'/> <span class="" itemprop="name">Gargi Raut</span></a>
Rishabh Pant with the rest of the team at practice. Image :Revsportz

 

Gargi Raut at Eden Gardens

Eden Gardens and headlines about the pitch are a match made in heaven. The full India squad arrived at around 12:30 pm at the Eden Gardens to begin their first practice session on match day -2. The crowd grew larger and the roars grew louder as the players entered the stadium. Ahead of the two-match Test series against the World champions, these were the top 3 highlights.

Indian management and pitch curator engage in lengthy talks again

In an exclusive conversation with RevSportz yesterday evening, Sujan Mukherjee, the pitch curator, made it clear that he wanted to prepare a pitch that would favour India. He revealed that the management wanted the track to spin, and he had reassured them that he would do everything that he could to provide the surface that was requested.

Before the players took the field, head coach Gautam Gambhir, Morne Morkel, Sitanshu Kotak and Ryan ten Doeschate had a lengthy chat with the curator next to the pitch. India’s captain Shubman Gill too had an animated chat with Mukherjee.

Sitanshu Kotak in conversation with Sujan Mukherjee at eden Gardens. Image : Revsportz

The track being prepared is sure to turn, as confirmed by Mukherjee, and will assist the fast bowlers over the first two days of the Test. The first session on the first two days is predicted to be key for the fast bowlers to get their scalps, with swing and seam coming into play.

Rishabh Pant looks fitter than ever

With Rishabh Pant making a return to the squad after his unfortunate injury and the subsequent heroics at the Old Trafford, all eyes are on whether the deputy skipper can make a striking comeback. Pant, who has always been agile, is now looking much leaner and fitter than ever.

Before heading to the nets where he batted for quite some time, Pant participated in his usual keeping drills at the far end of Eden Gardens. Unfortunately for the media seated at the other end, the naked eye couldn’t catch the minute technicalities involved.

But anyone who has followed Pant closely could see the difference in his physique compared to the first half of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.

ten Doescathe confirms Jurel’s presence in Playing XI

Assistant coach ten Doeschate, in India’s first press conference of the series, revealed that Dhruv Jurel, who hit back-to-back centuries in the India A games against South Africa A, would keep his place in the playing XI.

ten Doeschate more or less confirmed those that would take the field by revealing that India were likely to play three spinners in Washington Sundar, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja. Going by what the assistant coach said, it seems like Jurel will likely replace Nitish Kumar Reddy in the team, with Sai Sudharsan keeping his place at No. 3. The bowling lineup will consist of the three spinners mentioned above, with Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah leading the pace attack.

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