[Watch] Team India sweat it out in the nets ahead of WTC final against Australia
The Arundel Castle Cricket Ground has become the training hub for Team India as they prepare for the World Test Championship (WTC) final to be played against Australia at The Oval, beginning on June 7.
In a video posted by the YouTube Channel 'Sports 7G - 1', some of the players like Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Shardul Thakur were seen sweating it out in the nets and getting acclamatized to the conditions.
It seemed to be a full-fledged training session as the players were seen warming up initially through stretching and a bit of running. Pacers Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, etc. were also seen working out which lengths to bowl in those conditions.
Virat Kohli looked in sublime form as he absolutely middled the ball in the nets. Here's the video:
India WTC final squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Ravichandran Ashwin, KS Bharat (wk), Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan (wk), Cheteshwar Pujara, Axar Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadakt, Umesh Yadav.
Reserves: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav.
Axar Patel on Team India's preparations for the WTC final
India all-rounder Axar Patel feels they have enough time to get accustomed to the longest format and also the English conditions. Most of the players featured in the IPL and with barely a week's gap between the IPL final and the WTC final, one might be wondering if India will go undercooked.
However, Axar claimed that the bowlers had already started practicing with the red ball during the IPL. Here's what he was quoted as saying by the ICC:
"We knew about this before the start of IPL. So even during the IPL, it was discussed that we will bowl with the red ball. We had red balls, so we were using them. You know when and how to play, how much time you have.
"This mental switch from white ball to red ball is obviously tough, but we have enough time. Those who did not qualify [for IPL Playoffs] got more time. So I do not think there will be many problems because we have had a good time to prepare."
It will be interesting to see if Rohit Sharma and Co. play two spinners, given the warm conditions at the venue over the past few days.