India vs Australia, 3rd Test: Practice imperfect for India at MCG

Vijay wasn’t faring too well either, with the ball repeatedly zooming past the bat of India’s highest run-getter in this series so far, and by far the most-assured. Melbourne’s bizarre weather was putting on a show on Tuesday. The sun came out, then it started drizzling for around four minutes, then more sun, then a brief period with sun and rain. Then finally the heaviest drizzle of the afternoon. It was like Melbourne was showing off.

The Indians and the ground-staff were kept on their feet too, constantly running on and off the practice area before finally calling their session off, an hour-and-a-half behind schedule. This, after they had complained frantically about having been given uneven and underprepared practice wickets at the Gabba, which eventually resulted in two of their batsmen getting hit prior to the fourth day’s play. For most parts the bowlers in particular spent digging mud out of their spiked shoes, one of them even comparing the conditions to that of a Kanga League match.

At one point, coach Duncan Fletcher walked up to the net closest to the indoor centre for an impromptu pitch inspection. He squatted near the good length area, rubbed his hands on the surface, shook his head, then walked up a few steps, repeated the process and then walked off, clearly not satisfied with the amount of moisture retained on it.

The fast bowlers kept being shifted from one net to another before the management decided it was safe only for throw-downs. Then once the side-arm too started causing trouble to the Indians, they decided to shift base to the indoor-centre. Virat Kohli had already shifted base there. And over the next half-hour the entire batting line-up got its share of batting time.

Apart from Ishant and Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the only one to get a bat outdoors. He was without the ankle brace that he’s been sporting for a better part of last month. That he was given a bat was another sign of his possible inclusion for the Boxing Day Test.

“Even the spinner’s wicket is such that you feel like you’re facing a seamer,” is what one of the players thought of the conditions. But here, the Indians were content with blaming the fickleness of the Melbourne weather for yet another fractured practice session on tour.