IND vs AUS 2022-23: Indians involve in 2 net sessions; Ravindra Jadeja sweats it out in spinners-only session

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Comeback man and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja bowled a lengthy spell. Also, he batted for a considerable time, as the Indian Test team members had a couple of separate sessions at the Old Civil Lines ground in Nagpur Friday ahead of the four-Test series against Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, commencing February 9.

Jadeja, who was out of action for close to five months after knee surgery, recently returned to competitive cricket with a seven-wicket haul versus Tamil Nadu in a Ranji Trophy game. During the opening closed-door session, Jadeja bowled and batted for a considerable time, as he would like to add more leagues to his legs in what could be a physically-demanding Test series than most.

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Since most of the players, barring Cheteshwar Pujara, Jaydev Unadkat, and Umesh Yadav, are coming from white-ball outings, the team think-tank, headed by Rahul Dravid, wants every player to get sufficient time during their five-day practice before the advent of the opening Test at the VCA Stadium in the city.

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There was a two and half hour morning session, where a batch arrived for training, while the second group reached in the afternoon. With 16 members, along with four net bowlers from the fringe -- namely Rahul Chahar (Rajasthan), Washington Sundar, Ravisrinivas Sai Kishore (both TN) and Saurabh Kumar (UP), it is apprehended that India is readying to face quite some spin bowling from Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Swepson and left-arm spinner Ashton Agar.

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The spinners, who had been called, are those whose state teams are no longer in the fray for the ongoing Ranji Trophy semis. The existence of four spinners in the main squad and another four makes it a total of eight spinners in the set-up. While Shreyas Iyer is missing the Test due to a back injury, KL Rahul and Shubman Gill also faced main team bowlers and throwdowns at the nets.

Unlike the team's net session before other international contests, where there are typically three nets (including one for throwdown), there was an arrangement for only a couple during the day, as each player was assigned an adequate period at the centre net itself.

(With inputs from PTI)