KL Rahul's presence in the playing 11 has been questioned as much as the Australian batsmen's approach against India's spin bowling on this tour and discussed ad nauseam on social media. Though Rahul has been relieved of his vice-captaincy responsibilities, seemingly avoiding an uneasy situation where they may have to make the team's deputy sit out, the team management has held the cards close to its chest with regard to skipper Rohit Sharma's partner for the third Test, beginning here on Wednesday.
On Monday, two days ahead of the match, both Rahul and Gill batted simultaneously in adjacent "nets" during India's practice session as if it was an audition for the two with contrasting forms at the moment.
Both the stylish right-handers batted for about half an hour, facing a mix of India's spinners, local net bowlers and throwdowns as coach Rahul Dravid kept a close eye on the duo.
Gill appeared more aggressive of the two while Rahul was more watchful, perhaps giving a peek into their current states of mind. While Gill has enjoyed a great run in white-ball cricket besides a century in the first Test against Bangladesh in mid-December last year, Rahul has endured a prolonged lean run in red-ball cricket raising calls for his sacking.
Much before the two batted together, Gill spent about 20 minutes facing three throw-down specialists while his team-mates went through warm-up games and drills.
Pitch focus
After obsessing too much about the pitch, the Australians seemed to have learnt to focus on their cricket but Dravid, as has been the trend so far in the series, continued to keep an eye on the preparation of the playing surface for the match. He, along with batting coach Vikram Rathour, held a prolonged and animated chat with the curator while feeling the hardness of, or the lack of it, the areas at good length spot.
While there were patches of grass in the middle, the pitch looked bone dry from length on either side.
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