Rahul was part of a select group – Hardik Pandya, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill and Shardul Thakur were the others – that trained under the watchful eyes of head coach Rahul Dravid and batting coach Vikram Rathour. He began with a few throwdowns and batted in rotation with Iyer. There was no visible discomfort as he moved his feet well and timed the punches and half-drives to perfection.
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Rahul, who last played an ODI in March, tore a tendon in his right thigh during the IPL and had to undergo surgery in May. He was selected in the Asia Cup squad following extensive rehab at the NCA but was ruled out of the first two matches after picking up a fresh niggle.
“KL is looking good. We feel this gives us the best balance to try and do well,” chief selector Ajit Agarkar had said after Rahul was named in the World Cup squad earlier this week. “With KL, he was part of the camp in Bangalore. He looked really good there and has got over his niggle. He played a couple of games over the last two days. I think he kept for 50 overs and batted for around 50 overs too. So he looks good and we’re happy to have him.”
After a spell of throwdowns, Rahul had a few knockings before having another stint. The focus this time was primarily on the left-arm over-the-wicket angle with Nuwan Seneviratne feeding him the deliveries. A while later, he then ran a few sprints in one of the nets. Rahul, though, did not undertake wicketkeeping drills.
Come Sunday, it won’t be an easy choice for India to make between their two wicketkeeping options.
Gill prepares for round two against Afridi
Rahul aside, Gill had a longish stint in nets, facing throwdowns from Seneviratne. The India opener was kept quiet by the Pakistan pacers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah before inside-edging one off Haris Rauf for 10 off 32 balls.
Gill was consciously trying to get a stride forward while playing the drives and was mindful of not falling over while playing the flick through the on side. After a stint, he looked at the video footage of his session, before proceeding to have another longish spell.
S Sudarshanan is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Source: ESPN Crickinfo