Rohit Sharma-led team India sweat out in ground ahead of 1st Test match against Bangladesh
Chennai, Sep 16: Rohit Sharma and Co had another extensive training session in the build up to the first Test against Bangladesh with all 16 squad members turning for practice at the Chepauk here on Monday.
After a day off, the India squad members took part in their third training session since their arrival here last week. The first Test begins on Thursday.
As it is often the case, Virat Kohli was among the first set of batters to hit the nets. In the adjacent net was southpaw Yashasvi Jaiswal as both he and Kohli faced Jasprit Bumrah and home hero R Ashwin.
The next set of batters included skipper Rohit, Shubman Gill and Sarfaraz Khan, the last named player arriving here after taking part in the second round Duleep Trophy match in Anantapur. The captain focussed on playing spinners, keeping Bangladesh's slow bowling attack in mind.
Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant and pacer Mohammed Siraj too faced local bowlers and a significant amount of throwdowns.
The practice pitch at the main square offered a decent amount of bounce.
India will have two more practice sessions scheduled before the series opener against Bangladesh, who are riding on the confidence of their series sweep in Pakistan.
Most players in the playing eleven select themselves. The Chennai surface usually favour the spinners and there is likelihood of India going into the game with three spinners and two pacers.
The spinners expected to feature are Ashwin, Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav while Bumrah and Siraj will share workload in the pace department. Axar Patel, despite his impressive all-round returns across formats, may have to sit out.
On the batting front, Pant is expected to make his Test return after a gap of almost two years. Dhruv Jurel, who impressed in his debut series against England, will be benched in that case.
Shuttle runs and intense catching practice
Fielding coach T Dilip was impressed with the intensity of the unit despite punishing Chennai weather which is humid all the year round.
"Today, whole session idea was to get everyone together for a team drill with two segments to it. First is competition taking humidity into account, we made sure that volume is less but intensity is more," Dilip told bcci.tv after the session.
He then explained the training module.
"We split teams into two groups and made some competition in catching and the team that made less number of errors won. It was Virat's team that won today," he informed.
Dilip, the only support staff from the Rahul Dravid's team, who is part of Gautam Gambhir's entourage, also spoke about players coping extreme weather and giving it their all during the session.
"We split two batches -- bowlers and all-rounders split into two stations, where outfield and in-field catching was taken care of along with attacking ground fielding.
"The second group was standard batting group for slip cordon catching and also short-leg, silly point with some reflex catching," Dilip explained.
He seemed pleased with the effort put in by Rohit Sharma's men.
"Overall, I feel it was a fantastic session, considering hot overhead sun and getting used to it but one great part about this team is throughout all stations, the intensity was top notch in this weather," Dilip concluded.
Preps in full swing here in Chennai! 🙌
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 14, 2024
Inching closer to the #INDvBAN Test opener ⏳#TeamIndia | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/F9Dcq0AyHi
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Andhra to be developed as knowledge, creator economy hub: CM Naidu
New Delhi/Amaravati (PTI): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday said the state is taking steps to transform itself into a knowledge and creator economy hub with a strong focus on artificial intelligence and quantum technology.
He noted that Andhra Pradesh has abundant tech-driven youth and the government is formulating plans to train them in futuristic technologies with support from global technology firms.
"Our goal is to transform Andhra Pradesh into a knowledge hub by focusing on AI, quantum computing, data centres, drone cities and space cities. The youth will remain our biggest asset over the next 25 years, and we seek global partnerships to scale up the creator economy," said Naidu during his interactions at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in Delhi.
Naidu, who participated in the summit in the national capital, also held meetings with several global technology leaders and industrialists to explore collaborations in artificial intelligence, clean energy and innovation ecosystems.
He met Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, Autodesk AI Head Mike Haley, Aramco India Director Abdul Rehman AiThukair, LEGO Education Vice President Tom Hall, Aadhaar Founder and CTO Srikanth Nadhamuni, Khosla Ventures Managing Partner Vinod Khosla and others at the AP Pavilion.
The chief minister also held discussions with Saudi Aramco representatives on clean energy projects, including solar initiatives, and invited the company to expand operations in Andhra Pradesh, stating that the state is highly suitable for green energy production.
He sought support from NVIDIA Vice President Callista Redmond for establishing AI Living Labs and proposed partnerships through the Ratan Tata Innovation Hub to promote youth innovation, including collaborations with IIT Tirupati and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati under the Andhra Pradesh Future Innovation and Research for Science and Technology (AP FIRST) initiative.
Naidu urged Autodesk leadership to support the development of Global Capability Centres in design engineering and requested the establishment of an Innovation Academy in Amaravati aligned with quantum technology, besides proposing AI and robotics learning labs in partnership with LEGO Education.
He also discussed AI-driven smart governance solutions with Quantela Inc Chairman Sridhar Gadhi, while World Bank Group Digital AI Regional Director Mahesh Uttamchandani met Naidu on the sidelines of the summit.
Following the meetings, Naidu visited various exhibition stalls at the summit, including those of NVIDIA, Tata, Intel and Microsoft, and reviewed AI applications across agriculture, healthcare and industry.
