IND vs SA: Batting against spin in focus during India’s optional practice session in Kolkata
India’s optional practice session at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday, two days after its morale-sapping defeat in the first Test against South Africa, was largely divided into four nets.
To no one’s surprise, Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir devoted most of his attention to the nets reserved for spinners, in the aftermath of watching his batters have their spin-batting capabilities exposed by Simon Harmer and Keshav Maharaj in the first Test.
Gambhir had his eyes trained on the five Indian players who batted in the spin nets on Tuesday – Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal and Washington Sundar – from behind the stumps, constantly offering inputs to them.
There was an evident emphasis on being proactive against the spinners, as the Indian batters tested their sweeps and reverse sweeps, with Gambhir nudging them to add more muscle to the shots.
Washington, who bowled just an over in the opening Test, was the earliest to hit the nets and began by fine-tuning his off-spin in an empty net.
READ | Batting deficiencies send India’s formidable home Test record into tailspin
The tall offie soon then went on to bowl to Jurel and Jadeja in the adjacent spin net, as India attempted to mimic the impact of Harmer’s high release point and added bounce.
After bowling for nearly an hour, Washington switched over to batting. He began by facing some throwdowns before settling in for a long stint against the spinners and was the last India player to leave the nets.
Washington, who faced more deliveries than anyone in the Kolkata Test, worked largely on his aerial hits, particularly down the ground.
Sudharsan and Padikkal, who are both in contention for a spot in the top order for the Guwahati Test in light of skipper Shubman Gill’s likely absence, batted long. The left-handed duo divided their time almost evenly between throwdowns, pacers and spinners.
Akash Deep was the only Indian pacer to make an appearance. He began with a long spell, under the watchful eyes of bowling coach Morne Morkel, against Jurel, Sudharsan and Padikkal.
The Bengal seamer had his moments in the session, earning Sudharsan’s outside edge a couple of times and beating Jurel for pace a few times. Having bowled enough to Morkel’s satisfaction, Akash Deep soon padded up and began to touch upon his batting.
Meanwhile, Jurel, after spending over 90 minutes facing both spinners and pacers, had a long chat with Gambhir before heading into one of the central nets, with just his front pad on to work on his sweeps.
With two net bowlers – an off spinner and a left-arm spinner – operating from either side of the wicket, Jurel kept polishing his reverse and paddle sweeps, with batting coach Shitanshu Kotak offering feedback.
Jurel, still batting without his back pad, then began to refine his front-foot play, attempting to clear the imaginary long-on and long-off.
The training wound up on Tuesday with Sudharsan and Washington having a fielding session. The former had his close-in catching tested, which could be an indicator for India’s team selection for Guwahati.
Published on Nov 18, 2025
