Asia Cup 2023: What did Indian batsmen do at nets to prepare for Shaheen Afridi? | Cricket News
Two men were the focus of attention of India’s batsmen at the indoor nets in Colombo on Thursday: the Sri Lankan Nuwan Seneviratne, the team’s throwdown special, and Hari Prasad Mohan, the data analyst. Ahead of the Pakan game, India had turned to address the most obvious weakness choking them: the left-armer Shaheen Afridi’s atomic curlers. Seneviratne had the ball-slinging tool to curve in the inswingers and away-shapers, and Hari was faithfully recording the Indian batsmen’s technique on his tab, in particular their feet movement.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli had opted out of the optional nets at Gamini Dissanayaka Indoor facility at the Nondescript Cricket Club, but the others sweated out physically and mentally on a rainy day. Once their focus on Seneviratne ended after their stint, Shubman Gill; Shreyas Iyer; KL Rahul, in for his first training session with the team since recovering from injury, and the rest would hunch over to deep-dive into the videos. Was the front feet coming too far across or stuck too back and hence playing away from the body – and such concerns that has been plaguing India, not just against Shaheen but across left-arm swingers around the world.
Maybe it was a conscious decision to not make it a huge deal which can add to the pressure, head coach Rahul Dravid and batting coach Vikram Rathour both stayed away from keeping a close eye on how the batsmen were fairing against the Seneviratne, and instead giving throwdowns in adjacent nets.
Gill, who struggled against the seam movement in his first outing against Pakan, is known to have minimal footwork which isn’t ideal against left-arm pacers, was trying his best to course correct. On Thursday, at the nets, he ensured his feet moved towards the ball rather than sideways on a 90 degree angle at the crease as is his wont.
If the lengths were fuller for Gill and Shreyas, with Rahul it varied a bit. Earmarked to bat in the middle-order at No 5, it is a phase where the left-arm pacers tend to operate around the stumps and cramp them for room. And Rahul, who is likely to wait for his turn as Ishan Kishan seems to be the favoured one to play against Pakan on Sunday, even asked Seneviratne to deliver a few from a short dance, an indication of him wanting to get used to the extra-yard of pace.
Not that they need any reminders, but on their mobile dashboards, which is where all the data (their own and opposition) are shared, they can easily expect plenty of video tutorials in the coming days on how to deal with each of these bowlers or where they failed with stats to back it up. India may not be deep diving into data like England or closer home in the IPL like Mumbai Indians, but still rely on any information or data that comes their way, rather than just brushing it aside.
Having troubled India earlier in the T20 Asia Cup and T20 World Cup, Shaheen Shah Afridi once again caused all sorts of problems for India’s top-order in Pallekele. Come World Cup, apart from Afridi, India will face Trent Boult (NZ), Mitchell Starc (Australia), Reece Topley, David Willey (England), Marco Jansen (SA), Mustafizur Rahim (Bangladesh) and all of them capable of bringing the ball back into the right-hander.Most Read
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Above all, it’s Afridi who strikes terror the most and uniquely without any elaborate set-up strategy to push India into a maze. It’s almost as if he says, ‘this is my plan: slip in a couple that go away perhaps but attack with the inswingers – stop me if you can’. And the effect has been startling. Batsmen’s feet have frozen in recent times after trampling too far across in the past and the ball has invariably pinged the pad or the stumps.
Shaheen to Rohit
Left – previous ballRight- Wicket ball pic.twitter.com/0muG7mV0c0
— Nibraz Ramzan (@nibraz88cricket) September 3, 2023
Before the Shaheen threat, the last time a big talk about the left-arm seamers arose was the 2019 world cup semi final when Trent Boult surfaced in the pre-game discussions. And the Indian top-order combusted against the right-handed Matt Henry.
But desperate times seek desperate measures, and hence the intense training for Shaheen on Thursday. It is increasingly becoming the story of the Indian team, whose preparations for the Asia Cup and the World Cup has been hit hard the weather in Sri Lanka so far. With two of their matches affected wet weather conditions, since landing in the island they have had only one full training session as rains continue to lash Colombo, which is scheduled to host the Super 4 stages from Friday.
On Sunday, India have a chance to course correct. If they fail in the litmus test, then more trouble could come their way at the World Cup.
