IND vs SA: From Shubman Gill to Jasprit Bumrah – who did what in the first Test session in Kolkata? | Cricket News

Ahead of the vital two-match Test series against South Africa, the Indian men’s cricket team began their practice session on Tuesday at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, where the first match of the series from November 14-18 will be played.Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, Sai Sudharsan, Ravindra Jadeja, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy participated in the optional session.

Shubman Gill spent almost 90 minutes in the nets as he readjusted to red-ball cricket after the recent white-ball matches. Before batting, head coach Gautam Gambhir and assistant coach Sitanshu Kotak spoke to him near the High Court, news agency PTI reported. Gill then joined the catching drills and later batted in the nets with Yashasvi Jaiswal.Gill batted first against spin, facing Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar and played ground shots with sweeps at times. He then moved to bowling, facing Nitish Kumar Reddy and a few local bowlers. A support staff member used a handgun for throws from a higher launch point to provide more bounce and pace. After that, Gill moved to center field for about 30 minutes of bowling with bowling coach Morne Morkel also bowling with him.Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored 67 and 156 for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy match against Rajasthan, also had a long session on center wicket, where he faced Morkel and pitches and played drives and pulls.Sai Sudharsan also batted for a long time. He scored 84 runs in two unofficial Tests for India A against South Africa A. The team management continues to try him at No. 3. In Tests, however, he is yet to make it his own, with only a 61 against England in Manchester and 87 against West Indies at home to show for himself so far in Tests.Among the fast bowlers, only Jasprit Bumrah played. He kept his workload light, playing on two stumps for about 15 minutes and targeting the off stump.

South Africa prepare with emphasis on spin

South Africa also trained on Tuesday after their hard-earned 1-1 draw against Pakistan in Rawalpindi. With captain Temba Bavuma fit and back to lead the team for the first time since the World Test Championship final victory in June, South Africa held a training session with the full squad. The visiting team worked on the spin game and spent the session on plans to counter the Indian spinners.