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The Indian cricket team is preparing hard before travelling to Sri Lanka for a two-match Test series against the national cricket team of the island nation. KL Rahul is among the batters who caught the attention while batting in nets against the spinners on a rank turner.
KL Rahul is named for the Test series against Sri Lanka, and he will have to take a key role as batting on Sri Lankan tracks is expected to be very challenging. Conditions there, which traditionally favor the spinners most of a Test match, can test the batters' skills and techniques at the highest level of the series, which is crucial for the team as it is a part of the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.
Team India to travel to Sri Lanka with extra spinners
The Indian cricket team suffered a major blow in the form of Jasprit Bumrah. Bumrah has been ruled out of the series entirely because of a knee issue. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has named Auqib Nabi as his replacement.
Additionally, for better preparations, the board included Harsh Dubey, Tanush Kotian, and Vipraj Nigam as net bowlers. Before the team departed for Sri Lanka, these three net bowlers were seen actively engaged in an intense practice session against the batters who will have to face the Lankan quality spinners on their home soil. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rahul were among the batters who faced the net bowlers the most.
According to a media report, Rahul was seen facing the spinners off Tanush Kotian and Harsh Dubey using his well-versed skills at the cricket academy of former cricketer Jatin Paranjpe located in Bandra, Mumbai.
A video shows KL Rahul's batting on a spin-friendly pitch
A viral video on August 4 captured a brief moment of KL Rahul's batting in the nets against a spinner. From the video, it can be clearly assumed that the practice pitch was not easy to bat on. The delivery, which the right-handed, experienced batter punched using his back foot, hit the deck slightly outside of the off stump and spun sharply towards the middle and leg.
KL Rahul practicing in tough pitches for the Sri Lanka Test series ⏳💪 pic.twitter.com/XkgjNnqzYd
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) August 4, 2026
These kinds of pitches and the training sessions are designed to test the batters' skills against the spinners in challenging conditions. The pitches in Galle and Colombo could be a spinner's paradise where the batters may face difficulties without proper training.
Tanush Kotian shares insights on KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal's batting practice
Mumbai stalwart spinner Tanush Kotian told Cricbuzz that he was not surprised to see KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal at the academy because of highly possible spin-friendly surfaces in Sri Lanka.
"It's not surprising that they were practising against spin, given the conditions they expect to encounter in the series. I train regularly at Jatin Sir's academy. It's one of the few facilities where we can practise during the monsoon. The wicket there offers plenty of turn, and Yashasvi and KL have been training with us over the past few days," Kotian said.
