India’s assistant coach Abhishek Nayar. FIle
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

A nip in the air was obvious and while the Indians wound up their training, assistant coach Abhishek Nayar, clad in a pullover and with hands dug into his pockets, spoke about the ‘sweet-headache’ associated with the team. With Rohit Sharma back and Shubman Gill revealing signs of recovery from his left thumb injury, the question was centred around the selection headaches in the forthcoming Tests.

After a prefatory ‘mike check, may the sun shine on all of us’ prelude at the Manuka Oval in Canberra on Friday (November 29, 2024), Nayar said: “It is a sweet headache. It’s always good to be in a position where you get two top players coming back into your set-up. It builds a lot of confidence. It is good to have them (Rohit and Gill) back. The team is full of heart.”

However, be it the last word on Gill’s fitness or Rohit’s probable slot in the playing eleven, Nayar remained guarded. He, though, was happy with the manner in which the Indians trained: “It was raining but the good thing is that everyone was keen to play. Even in the rain, everyone batted. Whether it’s a pink ball or a red ball, there’s not much difference. We are trying to adapt to the colour and the extra lacquer on the ball in this (warm-up) game.”

On monitoring the bowlers’ workload through a long series, Nayar emphasised that after the early closure of the Perth Test, there was adequate rest: “The game got over in four days and we got three days after that. Today, the guys didn’t bowl much because of the weather. We will obviously sit and plan.”

As for the tough selection call of dropping R. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja at Perth, Nayar said that as professionals the duo understood the team’s needs: “When you have seniors like Jaddu and Ash, who understand what the team is trying to do, it becomes very easy because of the team first policy. The culture of this team is that everyone wants ‘Team India’ to win.”