Former India captain Virat Kohli, on Tuesday, refused to leave the net, even as India’s first practice session at the Optus Stadium in Perth was halted due to rain. The training session also dropped a major hint on India’s likely batting line-up for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series opener on Friday.
India have so far been practicising at the WACA, the old Test venue in Perth since last Wednesday. They even held a three-day intra-squad match against India A at the venue, during which two of their key batters – KL Rahul and Shubman Gill – injured themselves.
However, while the injury ruled out Gill for the first Test in Perth, leaving India more concerned as they would also miss captain Rohit Sharma in the match, Rahul returned to the nets two days later and also looked in good touch on Tuesday at the Optus Stadium, where he had a rather lengthy batting session.
Kohli was part of the training nets as well, and has looked determined to prove his worth since touching the Australian shores a week back. Heading into the contest on the back of a lean run, which even sparked questions over his future in the format, the 36-year-old has looked solid in the nets and partly in the intra-squad match.
On Tuesday, Kohli did not stop batting even as rain abruptly halted India’s training session. He continued to bat while rest of the teammates left the ground. However, he was forced to stop after the rain got heavier.
India drop major hint at playing XI
India’s training session on Tuesday significantly hinted at the possible batting line-up in Perth with Rahul slated to open alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal, while Gill will be replaced by Devdutt Padikkal, who was the only player from the India A squad to be retained by the team management.
Padikkal’s previous appearance in the format was in the Dharamsala Test match against England earlier this year, where he scored a fifty on debut batting at No. 4. However, he had a mixed series with India A against Australia A, scoring 36, 88, 26, and 1 in four innings.
Kohli will then bat at No. 4 while Rishabh Pant at No. 5. Well, these were precisely the players who were lined-up as slip fielders on Tuesday during India’s fielding practice in Perth.
