The Indian cricket team, usually surrounded by crowds, prefers to train in a relaxed atmosphere—and this was clearly visible from the players' ...body language during their sole practice session at Kent County Cricket Ground ahead of the fourth Test in Manchester. Three days after the defeat at Lord’s and after an hour-long journey from London, the Indian players looked tired while getting off the team bus, but the environment at Beckenham immediately lifted their spirits.
Hanuman Chalisa echoed in the dressing room
The varied music playing in the dressing room helped the players feel at ease. This featured a mix of Hanuman Chalisa, English pop songs, and popular Punjabi tracks. From upstairs in the dressing room, players like Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah were seen interacting with journalists watching the training session from the field. When one journalist tried to talk to Pant from a distance, he replied, "Can't hear anything," because of the music playing in the background. At that moment, Bumrah stepped in and made fun of his teammate.
India's lead fast bowler said, “Today Duggal Ji is deaf,” which made the Indian media burst into laughter. It was a dialogue from a popular Hindi film. Both Pant and Bumrah only took part in warm-up exercises and spent some time in the gym. Notably, Pant is recovering from a finger injury but is expected to be fully fit for the Manchester Test. Meanwhile, as part of workload management, neither Bumrah nor Mohammed Siraj bowled. It remains to be seen whether either of them will be rested for the upcoming test in the series.
Except for KL Rahul, all team members reached Beckenham. Left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh, who is yet to feature in the series, was bowling alongside Prasidh Krishna when he injured his bowling arm while attempting to stop a shot played by Sai Sudharsan. Later, when batting coach Sitanshu Kotak called him to bat in the nets, captain Shubman Gill was heard saying that Arshdeep wouldn’t be able to bat due to the hand injury. After this, the fast bowler was seen walking around with a bandage on his left arm.
Ryan ten Doeschate Updates on Arshdeep’s Injury
Ten Doeschate said, “Yes, he got hit by the ball during his bowling. He tried to stop a shot by Sai, but it’s just a cut, so we’ll have to see how deep it is. The medical team has taken him to the doctor, and we’ll have to see whether stitches are needed or not." That will play a crucial role in shaping our plans for the coming days."
Following the incident, bowling coach Morne Morkel stepped in to bowl during the net session. Although he couldn't bowl with the pace of Jofra Archer, he gave the batsmen good practice. Morkel said, “I’m not a machine like Jofra (laughing), but with Arsh injured and Akash not bowling today, I had to step in.” Maintaining the light-hearted mood of the session, Morkel returned to the dressing room after taking five wickets against his own batsmen.
