Widening the net: How to block Afridi

TWO MEN WERE the focus of attention of India's batsmen at the indoor nets in Colombo on Thursday: the Sri Lankan Nuwan Seneviratne, the team's throwdown specialist, and Hari Prasad Mohan, the data analyst. Ahead of the Pakistan game, India had turned to address the most obvious weakness choking them: the left-armer Shaheen Afridi's atomic curlers. Seneviratne had the ball-slinging tool to curv in the inswingers and awayshapers, and Hari was faithfully recording the Indian batsmen's technique on his tab, in particular their feet movement.

- VENKATA KRISHNA B

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli had opted out of the optional nets at Gamini Dissanayaka Indoor facility at the Nondescript Cricket Club, but the others sweated out physically and mentally on a rainy day Once their focus on Seneviratne ended after their stint, Shubman Gill; Shreyas Iyer; KL Rahul, in for his first training session with the team since recovering from injury, and the rest would hunch over to deep-dive into the videos.

Was the front feet coming too far across or stuck too back and hence playing away from the body - and such concerns that has been plaguing India, not just against Shaheen but across left-arm swingers around the world.

Maybe it was a conscious decision to not make it a huge deal which can add to the pressure, head coach Rahul Dravid and batting coach Vikram Rathour both stayed away from keeping a close eye on how the batsmen were fairing against the Seneviratne, and instead giving throwdowns in adjacent nets.