Quantcast

'To hell with the nets,' says coach Shastri

India mentor more concerned with rest than practice as India prepare for short Test turnaround in Perth

A three-day turnaround between Tests shapes as a physical and mental challenge for both Australia and India.

The four-Test series continues at Perth's Optus Stadium on Friday, with the tourists having recorded a 31-run win in Adelaide to take the early advantage.

Both teams travelled on Tuesday, essentially leaving them with just two days to recover, review what went right and wrong during the series opener then ready themselves for the second Test.

The most obvious priority for both camps, apart from Tim Paine's finger injury that Australia coach Justin Langer insists is "absolutely fine", is ensuring their respective pace attacks are fit and ready to fire.

Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami delivered a total of 123.4 overs in Adelaide, where Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins combined for 120.5 overs.

The six stars are likely to be licking their lips upon hearing some predictions of a pitch with plenty of pace and bounce.

However, they're unlikely to roll the arm over much in the nets before day one of the second Test.

Ponting’s say on Aussie XI for Perth

"They have to rest up. To hell with the nets. You just come there, mark your attendance and get away to the hotel," India coach Ravi Shastri said.

Apart from managing players' physical workloads, Langer is keen to ensure his inexperienced charges aren't mentally cooked after a tense finish to Australia's much-anticipated first home Test since the Cape Town cheating scandal.

"Training will probably look a lot different at this time of the year than perhaps we've seen in the past," Langer said.

"We'll freshen the guys up. It's something we're aware of. We'll work it out over the next few days.

"On the one hand, the youth helps us because they'll have the physical energy. It's (also) mentally very taxing playing Test cricket. It's really tiring'."

Mitch Marsh will link with the Test squad but the vice-captain is likely to be left on the sidelines again.

Langer suggested quicks Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins will be fine to back up, meaning Peter Siddle will be on drinks duty once again.

"They've had a couple of days off. Would've had three or four days off (come day one). India are in exactly the same situation," he said.

Domain Test Series v India

Dec 6-10: First Test, Adelaide Oval, India won by 31 runs

Dec 14-18: Second Test, Perth Stadium

Dec 26-30: Third Test, MCG

Jan 3-7: Fourth Test, SCG

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c, wk), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Mitch Marsh (vc), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Chris Tremain

India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar