India’s dreams of winning a Test series in South Africa for the first time went up in smoke after an innings defeat in the first match in Centurion. However, they are still chasing a piece of history as they prepare for the second and final Test in Cape Town. Only once have India managed to get out of a Test tour of South Africa with a draw and they are looking to do the same when the teams meet again in the second Test starting on January 3.
The team is in Cape Town already and are sweating it out in the nets in preparation for the series. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) released a video of the team’s net session on Sunday and there were a number of key takeaways from it. All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja’s return seems confirmed with the 35-year-old spending a number of hours with the bat and the ball. Jadeja had sat out the first Test due to an upper back spasm that he felt just before Day 1 in Centurion.
Head coach Rahul Dravid and bowling coach Paras Mhambrey also had a lengthy session with fast bowler Prasidh Krishna. Krishna made his Test debut in the first match and was pummeled all around the ground by the South African batters, particularly Dean Elgar. Dravid and Mhambrey were getting Krishna to work on the lines and lengths that they wanted him to bowl. It indicates that India could give Krishna another go in the second Test instead of playing Mukesh Kumar.
Dravid had a lengthy chat with opener Yashasvi Jaiswal as well. Jaiswal scored just 17 and five runs in the first Test as India’s top order failed to fire in both innings. Captain Rohit Sharma also had a hard time also faced a number of deliveries in the session. Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin bowled a lot of deliveries to Rohit. Rohit also interacted a lot with the younger players in the team and kept an eye on Jaiswal while the latter was facing deliveries. India’s three all-rounders – Ashwin, Jadeja and Shardul Thakur, all faced a number of deliveries in addition to rolling their arms.
