Closed door practice for Team India as question remains on 3rd pacer or Ashwin – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Virat Kohli, after a brief hiatus, returned to the grind with an extended net session, which took center stage during Team India‘s inaugural training session in Chennai. This practice session was in preparation for their World Cup opener against Australia scheduled for Sunday.
While closed-door training sessions are a customary practice in football, shielding tactical strategies from prying eyes, it is a less frequent occurrence in cricket, where tactics are often more straightforward.Nevertheless, on Wednesday, the Indian team decided to restrict media access to the session.
One of the most prominent talking points revolves around the composition of the bowling lineup. The crucial decision looms over whether India will include an additional seamer, Mohammed Shami, or opt for local favorite Ravichandran Ashwin, contingent on the playing surface.
Considering that Hardik Pandya is now contributing with the ball, often bowling 6-7 overs per game and even completing his full quota at times, the team might be tempted to utilize Ashwin. His unique skills could prove to be a strategic advantage, potentially playing mind games with the Australian opposition.

Kohli’s extra hour at nets
Kohli faced customary throw-ins for considerable period before facing some of the local net bowlers.
While it was scheduled to be a two-hour training session, Kohli put in an extra 45 minutes as the team has already missed two warm-up games, which helps in simulation.
India missing out on its CWC warm-ups is not entirely a loss, given it had already played a three-match ODI series against Australia a couple of weeks back.
Although Kohli did not play the opening two games of the series, he did manage to play a composed knock of a 61-ball 56 in the final ODI in Rajkot.
Besides Kohli, the other Indians to also sweat it out at the nets here were all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja, along with left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav.
While Jadeja began with the ball, he also batted it out, whereas Kuldeep and Pandya engaged in bowling before the latter also had a quick batting session.
The rest of the team, along with skipper-cum-opener Rohit Sharma, missed the training as he was in Ahmedabad for the pre-competition press conference.
India will be having more training sessions in the coming days before taking on Australia on Sunday.
(With PTI inputs)