Indian cricket team is now focused on the second Test as they began preparations from Wednesday in Melbourne seeking to bounce back after a crushing eight-wicket defeat on Saturday. The team will be led by Ajinkya Rahane for the remaining matches with Virat Kohli returning home on paternity leave.

Among those who first hit the nets included Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Mayank Agarwal and Ravindra Jadeja.  Test hopeful Shubman Gill and the struggling Prithvi Shaw also sweated it out.

Shaw was out in similar fashion in both the innings of the Adelaide Test after leaving a gap between the bat and pads to be bowled which led to heavy criticism. There have been calls to replace him with Shubman Gill who hit a fifty in a tour match against Australia A before the start of the series.

However, it’s still not clear whether Gill will make his Test debut at the Melbourne Cricket Ground or if Shaw will be given another chances despite twin failures.

Meanwhile, India may shore up their batting for the second Test meaning Rishabh Pant could get a game replacing Wriddhiman Saha. Pant too batted in the nets and was seen having a discussion with head coach Ravi Shastri.

KL Rahul, who last played a  Test in August 2019, is also likely to make his comeback in place of Kohli.

With Mohammed Shami also out of the tour with a fractured forearm, there’s a three-way battle between Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Siraj for the slot of a third pacer.

Jadeja also bowled during the session and is also in contention to get a game MCG, possibly replacing Hanuma Vihari. The team also did some catching practice considering how poor they have been in the department throughout the tour.

One of those drops proved costly in the first Test as Australia captain Tim Paine was reprieved early in his innings and he went on to play a match-defining knock 0f 74 cutting down India’s lead significantly.

The second Test gets underway from December 26.