NEW DELHI: Having suffered the heaviest defeat in South Africa in the first Test at Centurion, Team India went full throttle in the optional training session at the Newlands on New Year's Day in a bid to stage a fightback in the second and final Test starting Wednesday.
Star India batter Virat Kohli, who played a brilliant knock of 76 in the second innings of the first Test, was seen batting aggressively in the nets. Kohli danced down the track to smash R Ashwin over his head.
The former skipper was also seen negotiating with a local net bowler, specifically a left-arm pacer. The emphasis during the session was on assisting Indian batters in adapting to the challenge posed by left-arm fast bowlers.
Debutant left-arm pacer Nandre Burger ripped apart the Indian batting line up with seven wickets in the match. The pace and bounce of Marco Jansen also proved challenging for the Indian batsmen at the SuperSport Park.
The team had a gruelling session under the watchful eyes of head coach Rahul Dravid in Newlands. Skipper Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal were absent from the training session.
But all the three players participated in an optional session at the Supersport Park on December 30.
Outfoxed by South African pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada in both innings of the opening Test, Rohit was present as skipper and batter in equal measure during a two-hour session.
The Indian captain was focussed on facing Mukesh Kumar, who bowled only to Rohit for at least 45 minutes.
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