XtraTime Web Desk: Earlier it was scheduled that the Indian cricket team won’t practice on Monday but India’s star batsman Rohit Sharma & ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin decided to show up in an optional practice session where they train under the watchful eyes of Team India head coach Ravi Shastri along with the rest off the support staffs. Hitman is making a comeback in the test team after a long gap as he last wore the white jersey during the Proteas tour at the start off this year. On the other side India’s most dependable spinner would want to change his record in the Don Under where his record is very poor.
The off-spinner has taken 21 wickets so far in Australia so far at an average of 54.71 in his six previous outing in Australia, which doesn’t suit with his overall record. Despite of his poor show in Australia, India’s star top order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara backed his team mate to do well this time.
“If you see his recent bowling, I think he has made a lot of changes,” Pujara said. “I can’t describe what it is, not in front of the media. But he has made some adjustments which has helped him.
“He has played enough cricket in England which is obviously different conditions, not much help for the spinner. So I think when he’s playing in Australia, he knows what he has to do.
“He has also played a series in 2015 (here) so he’s very confident now. And whatever adjustments he had to make, he has already done it.”
Except Ashwin and Rohit no other cricketers were present at the training as they enjoyed a day off. The team management decided to give the players a day off after they spent more than 150 overs in the field in a warm-up match against a Cricket Australia XI which ended a couple of days back.
Pujara said that that team was happy with the practice it got during the warm-up game. “We got what we wanted in the practice game and the trainer and the physio has been monitoring the workload. We thought that it was best to take a break today and train for the next two days and be fresh for the Test match,” he said.