Team India begins full-fledged outdoor training in Australia

While Saturday’s first training session was mostly about gym and running workouts, the Indian squad was seen hitting the straps right away on the second day.

Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara were seen taking catches with the red ball for a considerable period of time (File Photo).

Indian cricketers had their first full-fledged net session on Sunday with the squad members training simultaneously for both the shorter and longer formats.

While Saturday’s first training session was mostly about gym and running workouts, the players were seen hitting the straps right away on the second day.

Captain Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara, India’s specialist slip fielders, were seen taking catches with the red ball for a considerable period of time.

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On the other hand, India’s newest pace sensation T. Natarajan was seen bowling at the nets. Natarajan had an extended bowling session during the day and bowled to almost all the top-order batsmen.

The likes of Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Prithvi Shaw, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant and Ravichandran Ashwin will be training only with the red ball and the others who are in both the squads will be doing a “mix and match” as per the training schedule.

The reason for having net sessions with players involved in both the formats is to get acclimatised to the red ball as most of the players haven’t played red-ball cricket since the first week of March.

With two first-class games, including one pink-ball day and night practice game, lined-up within a few days after the limited-overs series, it is only imperative that the red-ball specialists get as much net time as possible to get into the groove.