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Ravi Ashwin’s fitness under the scanner as India hit the nets at Southampton ahead of fourth Test

Sudhir Gupta

12:37 28/08/2018

Virat Kohli and his men got down to work in earnest in preparation for the fourth Test between England and India which will get underway at Southampton on Thursday.

Having suffered losses in Edgbaston and Lord’s, India had bounced back into contention in the five-match series by winning the third Test at Trent Bridge by 203 runs.

On Monday, Kohli and the rest of the team conducted their first net session at the Ageas Bowl upon their arrival in Southampton.

Seen hard at work at the nets was young Prithvi Shaw who has been given a maiden Test call up for India.

There was some cause of concern for Indian fans with off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin not coming down to bowl in the training session. The senior Indian spinner had suffered a groin injury in the third Test at Trent Bridge and it seems he has not completely recovered as of yet. Ashwin spent time with the team physio on the sidelines and did some light batting practice.

Ravindra Jadeja was seen bowling in the nets though the Indian team management is reportedly still hopeful of Ashwin’s recovery before the start of the fourth Test.

Pacers Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami were a busy lot in the nets on Monday while all-rounder Hardik Pandya too got in a decent workout.

The visitors are fighting against history as they look to storm their way back into the five-match series. Only one team in history has ever come back from 2-0 down to win a Test series 3-2 and that was Don Bradman’s Australia which completed the feat against England all the way back in 1936-37.

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