Basseterre, July 14: As Team India prepares for the second warm-up game against West Indies Cricket Board Presidents' XI on Thursday (July 14), Coach Anil Kumble was seen bowling at the nets to opener KL Rahul.
; Indian players unwind" />Ind-WI series schedule; Indian players unwind
Kumble, who has a magnificent record in the West Indies, bowled along with Cheteshwar Pujara to prepare batsmen play against spinners. Indian batsmen's performance against spinners, overseas, has not been up to the mark in the last couple of years.
Look who bowled in the nets today. Head Coach @anilkumble1074 and with him @cheteshwar1 #WIvIND pic.twitter.com/zfMq8qCDZG
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 13, 2016
The final practice game will be a three-day match and it will more or less decide the final playing XI for India and both the batsmen and bowlers will look to make their performance count and earn a place when Kumble and skipper Virat Kohli sit down to select the team for the first Test at Antigua starting July 21.
India were far from impressive in their last two-day warm-up game as their pace battery struggled with their inconsistent show and it will be the last chance for Kumble's boys to make an impression.
(Preview: 3-day warm-up match)
The Indian seamers, including Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami, who is returning to competitive cricket after a long injury lay-off, began well but lost the plot after sometime as they struggled with their line and length.
(Highlights of India's first practice match)
They could not push the batsmen to play their deliveries and bowled too wide outside the off stump, something which the pacers will have to sort out in the three-day warm-up game at Warner Park.
Ishant Sharma, who also has had a long lay-off, and Umesh Yadav will also look to grind it out as the duo is expected to be key members of Kohli's gameplans.
(Mishra takes 4 in drawn game)
It will be interesting to see if Mumbai pacer Shardul Thakur gets a chance to roll his arms over in this game.
While the seamers were inconsistent, leg-spinner Amit Mishra was impressive and made life difficult for the West Indies Presidents' XI batsmen and was on a hattrick after he dismissed Rajendra Chandrika and Jermaine Blackwood in successive balls.
Mishra ended with a four-wicket haul and will look to continue his good run. Spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja will also like to test their skills in the warm-up game, specially since the pitches in the West Indies also assist slow bowlers.
OneIndia News
(With inputs from agencies)