At the nets, Gill and Pant show they mean business

BRISBANE: There was a time when the eve of a match would mean that the venue would be a beehive of activity.

- Ashish Magotra

The players would come in wanting to apply last-minute touches to their technique; some would just like to feel bat on ball, Matthew Hayden would sit on the pitch, Rahul Dravid would shadow practice, Virender Sehwag would have a hit and Sachin Tendulkar would famously just need throw downs. It was all designed to get the individual in the groove.

These days, in the era of optional practices, the day before the game is a far tamer affair. On most days, players, who know they are playing the next day, do not turn up. New-age thinking places just as much value on rest as it does on the drill. So, you'll usually be lucky to find the main players, but on Friday, three of them turned up in the India nets.

Yashasvi Jaiswal (22), Shubman Gill (25), and Rishabh Pant (27) were all in action, putting the reserve bowlers through their paces and almost running bowling coach Morne Morkel into the ground as well. "We have fun in such contests. He (Morkel) keeps teasing us that I will bowl like this in my youth, so when we play, we say that the wicket is good to bowl the ball, so show us how you used to bowl," said Gill.