India's captain Rohit Sharma
Credit: PTI Photo
Adelaide: The sparse security, accustomed to handling a handful of people on non-match days, wasn't prepared for the kind of crowd that was going to flock the Adelaide Oval here on Monday afternoon when India held their first practice session ahead of the second Test, starting December 6.
A flabbergasted long-time security personnel at the stadium, exhausted after guiding in and out the Indian team's supporters, put the crowd figure at 3000!
A local journalist, jokingly remarked, "this is the attendance we get for all our (Sheffield) Shield matches combined."
In fact when Australia held their "nets" earlier in the day, there were about 300 fans by generous estimation with sizeable among them being Indians.
With fans creating a match ambience clapping for each catch and screaming for stroke, the Indians went through their rigours under the watch of head coach Gautam Gambhir who returned from home on Tuesday morning.
The Indians were all business, with Rohit Sharma embodying the team's intensity. The skipper, who missed the first Test and got out cheaply in the pink-ball warm-up game, was the first one to hit the "nets" along with Rishabh Pant while the rest went through fielding drills and a game of what can be loosely defined as kick volleyball.
With assistant coach Abhishek Nayar keeping a close eye, Rohit spent close to 40 minutes facing throwdowns and reserve pacers with Nayar passing on inputs every four-five balls. Nayar appeared to be working on getting Rohit's feet movement right wherein the right-hander batted with a slightly open stance with minimal trigger movement, be it the forward press or the back and across shuffle.
Given the extra bounce on the Australian pitches, committing on the front foot or going too far back in the crease can be tricky for negotiating the bounce becomes a difficult job. Virat Kohli found out in the first innings in Perth but got his act right in the second. Whenever Rohit got it right on the day, albeit in practice, it elicited a "class work" remark from Nayar.
Even as Nayar continued with his analysis, Rohit glanced towards scribes, who were standing at an earshot away from the nets, and advised the assistant coach, "jyada discuss mat kar abhi (don't discuss much now)."
Pant, too, went through the same rigour with the duo resuming their respective batting sessions in the evening when the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, among others, went full tilt.
Kohli, though beaten once each by Siraj and Akash Deep, largely looked in great touch and in an equally good mood. Shubman Gill gave another account of his full recovery from a thumb injury while KL Rahul went through a lengthy session, starting in twilight and extending into the night.
That Washington Sundar was the first bowler to bat was perhaps an indication that India would go with the off-spinning all-rounder again ahead of the senior spin duo of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.