South Africa in India: Ashwin among those who begin practice in Mohali

Mohali: Looking to avenge their humiliating loss in limited over cricket against South Africa, Indian team on Monday sweated it out in the nets at the PCA stadium ahead of the opening Test starting on Thursday.

After losing the T20 and ODI series against South Africa, India will go into the four-Test series hoping to turn the table and salvage the lost pride.

The Indian team led by Test skipper Virat Kohli didn’t waste any time as they had a two-hour practise session after reaching here in the afternoon.

As against clear weather in the morning when the Proteas practised here, it was smog and hazy weather in the afternoon even as Kohli, Murali Vijay and R Ashwin hit the nets.

Kohli had a good session playing watchfully to the medium pacers here that included Harmeet Bansal. Vijay, too, got the taste of batting conditions here.

Apart from bowling in the nets, Ashwin also finetuned his batting skills.

Out of 11 Tests played at Mohali, India have so far won five, including the last one they played against Australia in March 2013, drawn equal number of games while losing one match to West Indies way back in December 1994.

PTI