In preparation for their much-anticipated Asia Cup Super 4 match against Pakistan, the Indian cricket team had to resort to indoor practice sessions due to heavy rains in Colombo. The weather forecast for the week in Colombo didn’t look promising for outdoor practice.
The notable development during the indoor practice session was the return of KL Rahul, the wicketkeeper-batter, who had missed the group stage of the Asia Cup due to a niggle. Rahul appeared to be in good form during the practice session, showing no signs of discomfort while batting. He worked on facing both right-arm and left-arm angles, spending a significant amount of time in the nets to prepare for his comeback match. However, he didn’t participate in any wicketkeeping drills during the session.
While several key players, including captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel, decided to skip the indoor session, it was an optional session with three days remaining until the match. Most of these players are expected to join the session on the following day.
The practice session also saw Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, and Hardik Pandya working on their batting skills against fast bowlers. Iyer focused on improving his technique against short-pitched deliveries, an area where he had faced challenges in a previous group match against Pakistan.
Head coach Rahul Dravid, who emphasized the need for India to have depth in their batting order, provided practice to Shardul Thakur to enhance his ability to bat in the end overs. Dravid was also seen having discussions with Shardul and Suryakumar Yadav.
India’s top-order batsmen will be looking to perform better against Pakistan’s bowlers, including Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Haris Rauf, who had dismissed India’s top four batsmen cheaply in a previous match.
Pakistan has shown strong performance in the Asia Cup, starting their Super 4 campaign with a convincing 7-wicket win against Bangladesh, with Haris Rauf being the standout performer with figures of 4/19.
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