India’s veteran batters Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli sweated it out in companionable silence in the nets during team’s practice session on Sunday. India will be aiming for their maiden Test series win in South Africa when they take on the Proteas in a two-match series, starting December 26. There’s a 31-year jinx in Indian cricket having missed out on a Test series win in the ‘Rainbow Nation’ and in the twilight zone of their careers, both Rohit and Kohli would want to achieve which no other Indian teams could.
While Kohli, who came back from London after a short break with family, joined the training after half an hour, Rohit did look a bit more relaxed after shutting himself off for three weeks.
The two batted in different nets and centre practice strip, and also faced throwdowns for more than an hour.
There was hardly any conversation between them even when they took short breaks in between. Unlike the World Cup nets when there was a mix of both focus and laughter, the only sound that made you sit up and take notice was that of the red leather colliding with the willow.
Watch it here:
Virat Kohli in the practice session.
– The King is gearing up for the 26th.pic.twitter.com/WS19Vm0KU7
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) December 24, 2023
Dekho vo aa gaya #ViratKohli #primiily pic.twitter.com/WHhai0SAlX
— Ajay (@coruptajxy) December 24, 2023
Virat Kohli And Prasidh during the Practice Session at South Africa!!#viratkohli #Prasidh #Rohit #ViratKohli #virat #kohil #Test #INDvAUS #INDvsSA #Rcb #INDvSA pic.twitter.com/UiX9Ojr0Na
— Mollah Shamim (@MollahShamim165) December 24, 2023
The batters could be in for some challenging times with the Supersport Park track expected to aid the fast bowlers as rain threat looms large over the opening Test between India and South Africa, curator Brain Bloy said on Saturday.
The Centurion curator said that there is little possibility of play on opening day and better part of second day and due to heavy rain, there will be drop in temperature and spinners are unlikely to get much help.
“Temperature will be super low, like 20 degrees. The temperature is now 34 and it will drop to 20. I don’t know what conditions will be like, whether we will get play on Day 1,” Bloy told PTI after his regular inspection of work.
“Hopefully we will get some play and it will be cool on Day 3 and I don’t know how much turn will be available.”
Bloy said that if track remains under cover, batting first will be a tough ask.
(With PTI Inputs)
Topics mentioned in this article