At ten minutes to 3 pm, Rajat Patidar finally walked out of the temporary canopies that were placed near the practice arena, which sits about 100 metres from the main playing arena at the Visakhapatnam stadium. With Rohit Sharma, Yashavi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Kuldeep Yadav batting ahead of him, Patidar had sat alone for an hour-and-half with his thigh pads on, paying close attention to India’s top three.
Even Washington Sundar, who was only drafted into the squad after Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul were out injured, would come in and straightaway have a go at the nets. It remains to be seen if Sundar gets the nod ahead of Patidar. As the clock kept ticking, Patidar would start tapping a ball, presumably enjoying the sound. A little later, Sarfaraz Khan and Saurabh Kumar – two other players who joined for the second Test here in Visakhapatnam, would join him after inquiring whether his turn was over. With the weather a tad hot, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Washington and Jaiswal would seek shelter for a few minutes when the captain Rohit walked up. After gently chiding Jaiswal for relaxing and asking Sarfaraz and Saurabh to join the rest, Rohit had a short discussion with Patidar before the latter headed for his first outing of the day.
Awaiting him were R Ashwin and Axar and Patidar would dish out five sweeps of the first six deliveries he faced. A few deliveries later, the paddle-sweep came out, before a couple more sweeps materialised – front and behind square. This would continue for a while before he switched to an adjacent net, where he faced Ashwin exclusively, sweeping him almost every ball he faced. Only the odd ball was played with a vertical bat.
Much later, alongside Mohammad Siraj, Sarfaraz entered the batting nets to face Kuldeep and Washington. He has been primarily in the squad for his sweep-shot prowess and because he is strong square of the wicket. Unlike Patidar, he didn’t deploy the sweep as much, instead allowing the ball to come in and working around to the leg-side. Intermittently, he would employ the sweep shots, and his version was the most powerful among all Indian batsmen who had a hit on Wednesday.
The reverse-and-conventional sweeps, two shots which were missing in India’s arsenal as England spinners targeted them with a stump-to-stump line, came out in full at the practice session. Only Patidar and Sarfraz didn’t dabble with the reverse; the rest did.
The disappearance or rather the reluctance of the current set of Indian batsmen to play the sweep has been a big mystery. Most of the current crop prefer to largely play from the crease. A couple like Jaiswal and Rohit like to advance. But the reluctance to use the sweep shot on low surfaces makes them live dangerously. Ollie Pope showed them the value of the reverse sweep in Hyderabad.
And with a similar pitch expected in this coastal city for the second Test, India showed refreshing signs of practising the sweep. There were signs of it coming, especially when India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour spoke before the training session that while the reverse-sweep wasn’t something their batsmen could master overnight, the conventional sweep remained a definite option.
“You need to be prepared for that by practising it. If you add more shots to your game, it’s always beneficial. We played traditionally. We can keep doing that, and if we can add more shots and score through the square of the wicket, that’s always an addition,” Rathour said.
At the nets, apart from the sweeps, each batsmen played with the sort of intent that made them score runs in the first innings with ease. Even when facing Bumrah and Siraj, India’s batsmen showed the right intent, finding the balance between attacking and defending. But it was against spinners Ashwin, Axar, Kuldeep and Saurabh Kumar that they were at their punishing best, using the feet to come down the track to hit straight or to defend by smothering the turn with a forward stride that would have the bat at a 150 degree angle.
Dravid keeps a close eye on Gill
For a batsman who is struggling for runs in red-ball cricket and his spot no longer safe when Virat Kohli comes back for the third Test, Gill had an extensive session. Among the first batch of batsmen to take guard at the nets, Gill started off by facing the throwdown specialists, who troubled him at times. Later, he played a few attractive shots to the spinners though there was this one moment that led to Dravid sidling up next to him for a close look. It came when Axar deceived him in the flight and hit the top of off stump with Gill still on the move. Dravid headed across, positioned himself right behind Gill, with the proceedings being captured on a camera. With Dravid suggesting him to go forward, Gill would then take long strides to defend and after a 45-minute session, he would take his helmet and head towards some shade, but only to change his gloves and go back to facing Ashwin.
It was a session, where India’s batsmen were put to test by India’s best. And after contrasting approaches in the first and second, the message seems to be different. “There’s a difference between playing with intent and playing attacking cricket. I want them to play with intent,” Rathour said. “If there is the opportunity to score some runs, they should take it. They need to decide by looking at the surface and conditions. So, the batters need to possess that intelligence as to which is the best or safest shot on the surface. But, they need to score runs by playing their shots, as you need to back your strengths. Batting is always about scoring runs. It’s not about not getting out but how many runs you put on the board.” Now, it’s time for his batsmen to walk that talk.
Patidar and Gill in action in the nets ahead of the second Test against England. (PTI) 
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