Fit-again Gill gets quality match time, Rohit keeps people guessing

Shubman Gill dispelled all doubts about his thumb injury with a stylish fifty even as skipper Rohit Sharma kept cards close to his chest by coming in at No 4 in Indias curtailed pinkball warmup game against Prime Ministers XI on SundayThe visitors won the match by six wicketsIt however remains to be seen if the Indian captain would come out to open in the second Test against Australia starting Friday in AdelaideIt was a 46oversaside affair which India won by chasing down an easy target of 241 in 425 overs but they carried on batting till the end of the final overFor Australia Test hopeful Sam Konstas 107 off 97 balls went in vainThe Indian team management was tactical in its choices as Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah decided on facing each other at the nets rather than providing data to the Aussie thinktankInterestingly Ravichandran Ashwin who didnt play the Perth Test was seen at the nets mostly bowling to Kohli Ashwin had a fourwicket haul in the last Pinkball Test in Adelaide in 202021Ravindra Jadeja however got a few overs and also batted for some timeRohit persisted with the opening combination of Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul dropping himself down to number four However his own game time was limited to 11 deliveries as he edged one to the slips under the night lightsThe biggest piece of news for India was Gills batting A cracking square cut first up off seamer Mahli Beardman indicated that his fractured left thumb has completely healed and he is ready to play the Adelaide gameAlso ReadRohit Sharma sent back early in warmup fixture against Prime Ministers XIHe looked pretty comfortable against Scott Boland whom he faced during his second spellGill punished the pacers and spinners alike with seven boundaries before he retired after facing 62 ballsJaiswal 45 off 59 balls and Nitish Kumar Reddy 42 off 32 balls both players with virtually no experience of facing the pink ball at domestic level threw their bats around and got some runsRishabh Pant also didnt come out to bat much to the disappointment of the 1000odd Indian fans present at the Manuka OvalHarshit shows big heartHarshit Rana has already earned the vote of confidence from the team management with an impressive Test debut at Perth and picked four wickets here to strengthen his credentials as a wickettaking bowlerStill very raw at the international level Harshits inexperience became his undoing during the first three overs as he wasnt able to hit the right length with the pink ballBut then he went round the wicket against a set southpaw Jack Clayton 40 and bowled a quick delivery that came in with the angle as the batter played inside the lineWithin a space of a delivery he came over the wicket to righthander Ollie Davis 0 and a fullish ball had him playing all overAlso ReadRohit Sharma drops down does KL Rahul get the pink ball opening gigIn his next over he bowled two different types of bouncers the one to skipper Jack Edwards climbed steeply as he went for a pull while the next one to Sam Harper was aimed at rib cage and forced the batter to go for a swivel pull Both catches landed safely inside Prasidh Krishnas palmsAkash Deep 258 bowled a few wickettaking deliveries but didnt look as menacing as Harshit when the latter bowled the heavy ball In all India made the best use of the limited practice opportunityBrief Scores Australia PM XI 240 in 432 over Sam Konstas 107 Hanno Jacobs 61 Jack Clayton 40 Harshit Rana 444 Akash Deep 258India 257 for 5 in 46 overs Shubman Gill retd 50 no KL Rahul retd 27 no Yashasvi Jaiswal 45 Nitish Kumar Reddy 42 Ravindra Jadeja 27 Washington Sundar 42 noThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever