Right from the moment he got off the bus, Sarfaraz Khan was all smiles. One by one, the members of the team welcomed him before the action began on the field at the NCC. Within 12 hours of being confirmed as a replacement for Sai Sudharsan by the BCCI, Sarfaraz was with the Indian team in Colombo for a two-and-a-half-hour practice session.
Stretching and warm-up drills were followed by running drills. With fielding coach Shubhadeep Ghosh, he was seen having a separate session. Ghosh put him through close-in catching practice, which lasted for 15 minutes. After a long wait, he came out to bat. While most of the batters were seen batting on the centre wicket against the bowlers, Sarfaraz only took throwdowns in the practice nets for about two and a half hours.
Accompanying him in the nets was Ravindra Jadeja. Batting coach Sitanshu Kotak had a separate conversation with both Ravindra Jadeja and Sarfaraz. The pair were the last to bat on the centre wicket against the net bowlers — Harsh Dubey, Tanush Kotian and Shivang Kumar.
None of the aforementioned bowlers could trouble Sarfaraz as he looked fluent during his session. He is renowned for his ability against spin, and he showed once again why that is the case. Exemplary footwork against the spinners, coupled with a solid defensive technique, was on display.
All the batters turned up for the match simulation that took place on the centre wicket. KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal batted for 40–45 minutes before making way for the pair of Shubman Gill and Devdutt Padikkal. Auqib Nabi bowled to all four batters for close to an hour. Once again, the focus on the centre wicket was on playing spin. A lot of emphasis was placed on playing sweep and reverse-sweep shots against the likes of Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar and Saransh Jain.
When Gill was facing throwdowns, he did so against an old or semi-old Kookaburra ball in order to prepare himself for the challenge of reverse swing.
The net bowlers operated on the centre wicket once the members of the squad had finished bowling. Taking them on was a rampaging Rishabh Pant, who played a lot of aerial shots. Dhruv Jurel, who did not score much in the practice game, partnered him and adopted the same approach. Both wicketkeepers were also seen playing a variety of sweeps.
Notably, Nabi and Saransh Jain were the only ones not to bat on the centre wicket. Apart from them, everyone, including Kuldeep, batted in the middle.
It was India’s last practice session in Colombo before they leave for Galle tomorrow. Three days of a practice match and three intense days of training have reflected the intensity of their preparations ahead of the series. With not a single rest day so far, India’s focus has been firmly on ensuring they are ready for the challenge that awaits in Galle.
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