Ishant Sharma came humming in, he landed the ball on length and got it to move just enough to beat the outside edge. Umesh Yadav came jogging in, hurled a full-ish ball on off stump and castled Ajinkya Rahane. Mohammed Shami trundled up off a few steps and yet generated great steam – amidst all the talk of pink ball, India’s new-ball bowlers showed exactly why they are the biggest match-winners for Virat Kohli.

The big boys took the field in an extensive training session, Ravi Shastri took his position at the non-striker’s end and under his watch, the seam bowlers were doing what they have been doing over the past 15 months – getting the ball to seam around even on a rather docile practice surface. Even Virat Kohli looked circumspect against his own bowlers, and perhaps, this was the biggest talking point of the day.

In the parallel net, Ravindra Jadeja was slowly getting into his groove. Kohli, who looked rather expansive against the other bowlers, was forced to be cautious, he was even beaten by the left-arm spinner on more than one occasion. Getting the ball on that perfect length and then getting it to spin just enough – Jadeja was on the money.

Ashwin too, after a slow start, found his rhythm and was asking plenty of questions, Cheteshwar Pujara, was surprisingly very scratchy and was tested by the off-spinner on a number of occasions.