Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihari, integral to India's plans for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy down under, will begin their preparations for the country's maiden away D/N Test in Adelaide from Friday (November 6) in Dubai.
The two players, having travelled to UAE earlier and completed their necessary quarantine period, have begun training under the watchful eyes of head coach Ravi Shastri and the rest of the support staff.
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The management wants early preparations for what will be only India's second pink-ball outing and first away from home. And hence, will be holding practise sessions under lights at the ICC Academy ground.
"The team realises the need to prepare for such an intense series and we want to use as much of our time judiciously in Dubai. We will have sessions under lights from today and with the pink ball. Today's session will be a three-hour session approximately," a source close to the development told ANI.
Pujara and Vihari will be joining the rest of the Australia-bound contingent post the end of IPL 2020 on November 10 before departing together for the three-month tour, comprising six limited-overs games and four Test matches within bio-secure arrangements.
But before that, the Indian team have had a hiccup as their longstanding throwdown specialist Raghu had to skip travelling to the UAE, down with COVID-19. Sri Lanka's left-armer, Nuwan Seneviratne, is the only throwdown specialist Pujara and Vihari are doing with at the moment.
"Pujara, Vihari, and the rest are currently working with Nuwan in Raghu's absence. It is unfortunate but you cannot do anything about Raghu testing positive for coronavirus. Looking at the brighter side, Nuwan brings in the left-arm angle and that is a plus as (Mitchell) Starc is an integral part of the Australian attack," the source said.
The D/N Test from December 17 will open up the four-Test series between India and Australia, which also consists of games in Melbourne (December 26-30), Sydney (January 7-11) and Brisbane (January 15-19).
Team India will leave for Australia on November 12 and will land in Sydney where slightly relaxed quarantine protocols will also help them train along the way. The SCG, as well as Canberra's Manuka Oval, will host the limited-overs leg from November 27.
