Almost a month after new head coach Gautam Gambhir began his stint with the limited-overs series in Sri Lanka, Team India will commence their task of maintaining their position at the top of the World Test Championship table when they take on Bangladesh in the opening match of the two-match series in Chennai from September 19.
In the lead-up to the tougher battles ahead, the players will go through a conditioning camp at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai from Friday.
It is understood that most of the players, including captain Rohit Sharma, reached Chennai on Thursday evening. Virat Kohli is expected to arrive on Friday.
India’s last Test series was against England at home in January-February. The team will be playing 10 Tests, including five at home — two versus Bangladesh and three against New Zealand next month — before travelling Down Under for the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The camp will be an opportunity for the Gambhir-led support staff to formulate the team’s strategy and gameplan.
The batters’ weakness against quality spin was exposed during the 0-2 ODI series loss in Sri Lanka and the think-tank will be looking to address these concerns.
The Bangladesh spin duo of Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Shakib Al Hasan could pose quite a threat in the slow and low conditions and Gambhir won’t be willing to leave anything to chance.
The Indian top-order, including the likes of Rohit, Kohli and KL Rahul, have consistently struggled against the spinners and it could have huge implications against Nathan Lyon in Australia.
The camp will be a good platform to sort out this issue. Promising Mumbai off-spinner Himanshu Singh has also been asked to join the camp at the behest of chief selector Ajit Agarkar.
The composition of the middle-order will also be of importance. While Rohit and Yashasvi Jaiswal are set to open the innings, Shubman Gill will occupy the No.3 position followed by Kohli.
The No.5 position, however, is up for grabs. As of now, Rahul is the favourite though Sarfaraz Khan had batted successfully in the series against England.
That Sarfaraz has been allowed to play the ongoing Duleep Trophy match for India B against India C is perhaps an indication that Rahul will be the team management’s first choice in the playing XI in Chennai.
Rahul hasn’t looked very comfortable in the lone Duleep outing and it will be a huge challenge for him to seal his place since he will be needed on the bouncy surfaces
in Australia.
Bowling coach Morne Morkel will also link up with the squad during the camp and will get to closely have a look at the unit, which includes the promising Akash Deep and left-arm pacer Yash Dayal. The need to manage the workload of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj in the five home Tests was considered during the selection meeting.
With three spinners likely to make the XI at home, the selectors will play only one among Bumrah and Siraj while trying out new faces like Akash Deep or Dayal.
Striking the right balance in the XI will be of great importance and the camp will look to make the most of the conditions on offer.
