Wary of struggles against left-arm spin, watchful Gill polishes game at nets ahead of second SL Test

Colombo: Mindful of his underwhelming returns against left-arm spin, India skipper Shubman Gill spent considerable time fine-tuning his game against that variation at the team's training session on Friday ahead of the upcoming second Test against Sri Lanka.

In the first Test at Galle, which India won by 165 runs, Gill fell to left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya twice while making just 16 and 8. In general, Gill's travails against orthodox left-armers stem from inadequate covering of the line, a flaw evident during his struggles against Jayasuriya. Across 42 Test matches, he has now been dismissed 11 times by left-arm spinners. Despite these recent blips, Gill maintains a strong overall record against slow bowling, averaging 61 against off-spinners and leg-spinners combined, with a career average of 48 against all types of tweakers. 

At the Sinhalese Sports Club nets, Gill took active steps to rectify the issue, facing up to left-arm spinners Manav Suthar, Ravindra Jadeja, and a couple of local bowlers for a considerable duration.

India's spin bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule provided insight into Gill's targeted net session, emphasising that the right-hander was primarily adapting to local conditions rather than overhauling his technique.

"The way he plays, there is a flow of runs always. So, he is somebody who is just assessing the pitch condition, pace of the pitch and seeing what are the type of shots he can play, what are the defences he can manoeuvre. He is just adapting to the conditions," Bahutule said.

"There is nothing too much into it in terms of planning how he is going to approach. He just follows his natural way of playing each innings," said Bahutule.

Meanwhile, opener and vice-captain KL Rahul and leg-spinner Kuldeep Yadav were both absent from active participation in the training session. Rahul missed the session entirely, while Kuldeep attended but neither bowled nor batted. Kuldeep had struggled to make an impact in Galle, conceding 103 runs in 25 overs for a solitary wicket that was largely set up by Gill's athleticism at covers.

Addressing their absence ahead of the match starting August 23, Bahutule brushed off any injury concerns.

"Both KL and Kuldeep are resting. We finished five days of match, we travelled from Galle. So that's the reason," said Bahutule.

In their absence, off-spinner Saransh Jain bowled a few overs to Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill, even squaring up Pant on a couple of occasions. However, taking this as a sign of Jain replacing Kuldeep in the XI for the second Test would be premature. Elsewhere in the nets, middle-order batter Dhruv Jurel joined the session slightly late to polish his skills, following up on his key well-timed half-century alongside Rahul in the first Test victory. (PTI)