Bumrah, Kuldeep and Axar rest as India hit the ground running for West Indies Test series

Ahmedabad, Sep 30 (PTI) Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel took a break as the rest of the Indian team hit the ground running less than two days after their famous Asia Cup triumph, for the first of the two Tests against the West Indies, here on Tuesday.

With the squad members, including skipper Shubman Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir, arriving here on the intervening night between Monday and Tuesday, the side trained for nearly three hours here at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

Additionally, with very less turnaround time between the conclusion of the white-ball tournament Asia Cup on Sunday and a series part of the World Test Championship starting Thursday, India will also have to manage the workload of the players.

After the proceedings began with light warm-up and catching, the action shifted to the nets where all batters had long stints in the nets while the other pace bowlers too put in the hard yards.

Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna, who played in the second four-day unofficial Test for India A against Australia A which they won by five wickets, bowled for nearly 45 minutes as the weather cleared up for the home team players.

Both the right-arm pacers were in fine rhythm generating pace and bounce on practice wicket nets after a spell of rain.

Having taken a look at the pitch after arrival, Gambhir had another look at the surface after India winded up their training.

Openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul looked in supreme touch and so did wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel, who led India A in the second unofficial Test.

The other middle-order batters B Sai Sudharsan and Devdutt Padikkal too looked in good rhythm but there were some troubles for skipper Gill, who was troubled by his India pacers as well as the throw down specialist.

Amid a few that found the sweet spot of his bat, Gill also had a few hits and misses as well as a few outside edges troubling him when he prodded forward to defend. On one occasion, he was also taken by surprise as a rising delivery hit his gloves chest high.

Nevertheless, Gill kept changing the nets and batting against all possible combinations between pace, spin and throw downs as the 26-year-old gears up to lead India in his first home Test as the full-time captain.

It will also be the first home assignment in the World Test Championship for Gill and his new Indian Test side which impressed one and all with their gumption and skills both in England, drawing the hard-fought series 2-2.

Who will get the nod as extra batter? ======================= With the top four slots fixed, it remains to be seen who would be the team management’s choice for an extra batter between Nitish Reddy and Padikkal.

While Padikkal did not seem to have put a foot wrong in the nets following his 150 in the first unofficial Test against Australia A, Reddy also showcased fine rhythm particularly while bowling alongside Siraj and Prasidh.

Reddy’s inclusion will provide the team with a third seam bowling option and it remains to be seen if the team management leans towards having that choice in the middle before the contest gets underway. These two are likely to feature in the selection debate for the playing eleven as the rest of the line-up seems settled comprising Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep, Siraj and Bumrah.

Kuldeep, who took a match-winning four-for in the Asia Cup final, could prove to be the biggest challenge for a frail West Indies line-up which does not have a great deal of experience of Indian conditions.

Earlier in the day, the West Indies were forced to train in the indoor nets as a spell of shower curtailed their nets session to only about half an hour. PTI DDV BS BS