Rohit, Rahul and the other variables around India’s XI in Adelaide

Rohit, Rahul and the other variables around India's XI in Adelaide

Rohit Sharma had you at Arey. As he did the bunch of Indian media personnel huddled behind his net at the Adelaide Oval. Even if his message to them was a bit sterner in nature. The Indian Test captain had walked out to bat alongside Rishabh Pant a good hour before India's scheduled nets session on Tuesday, three days out from the second Test.

There he'd played and missed at a couple before edging a couple of deliveries from the reserve Indian fast bowlers, like is the case with most batters facing the pink ball in the greenish Adelaide Oval nets pitches. It's not like those recording their clips from behind Rohit were being noisy or even doing something to distract him. But the senior batter still felt bothered by their presence. In a few seconds, they'd been asked by the team security to step aside.

Rohit probably was trying to suggest that 'there's nothing new to see here' with his characteristic Arey. But it was also a sign of how keen he was to use the handful of sessions he'll get to acclimatise with facing a pink ball. Along with getting himself into a series after having missed the opening Test in Perth, he'd got his chance in Canberra over the weekend, but he hadn't lasted too long before being dismissed. And though there were a couple of nets sessions at the Manuka Oval, Tuesday was Rohit being determined to get his batting rhythms in order, firstly with Abhishek Nayar in tow, before having the other coaches get involved later in the evening when he showed up to bat in the tricky twilight period against his team's premier fast bowlers.

By the time he walked out to resume his batting preparation on Wednesday, the focus had shifted entirely from simply getting clips of Rohit batting to trying to figure out where he'll be batting come Friday as he returns to lead the Indians in the Border Gavaskar Trophy. And also, what that could mean for KL Rahul despite his very impressive outings in Perth.

Whether it involved zooming in to see how much of the new-ball he was facing in the nets to also who he was sharing the net with. On Tuesday, Rohit had largely spent his time during training pairing up with Pant, as if to suggest they could be in the middle-order. Especially with the other pairings supposed to suggest that KL Rahul will continue as opener alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill coming in at No 3 with Virat Kohli of course sticking to No 4.

The order was flipped of course on Wednesday with Rohit accompanying Jaiswal to the nets and starting his session by facing the new-ball. Maybe that had to do with Rahul having been tied up with the press conference or maybe it was a sign that the Indians are indeed not sure yet of which way they'll go. Even if Rahul did admit that he'd been informed about where he'd be batting at the Adelaide Oval. Adding to the intrigue was the fact that Rahul spent most of his interaction with the media talking about his philosophy around opening the batting and how comfortable he was doing it. To put that into context, most questions he had to contend with did have to do with his views on being an opener again in his career.

What then you wonder could lead to Rohit potentially dropping himself down the order after having spent the last few years quite successfully at the top of the order-despite his disappointing returns this calendar year. Considering the tempo at which the captain has been starting most of his innings of late, coming down the order for the pink-ball Test might not be the worst decision, now that Rahul and Jaiswal have shown great skills in seeing off the new-ball. But then the argument could be whether Rohit can set the tempo for the Indian innings like he's wanted to in Test cricket while batting at 5 or 6.

Rahul for the record faced the new-ball as much as Rohit has done over the last two days even if Rohit was overheard asking one of the reserve bowlers if he was indeed operating with a new-ball when he was asked not to during the latter half of his batting stint on Wednesday.

While the opening quandary was fascinating in itself, Kohli was spotted indulging in a game within a game against the likes of Navdeep Saini and Mukesh Kumar. And though the two right-armers did get the better of the premier batter on a few occasions, as once again is the norm with the pink ball in the Adelaide Oval nets, Kohli had the last guffaw on Wednesday afternoon, as he power-drove a full delivery from Saini straight down the pitch, and let the fast bowler know he'd finished on top as well.

Akash Deep on the other hand has been the most impressive of the fast bowlers with the pink ball, but you'd still think India will stick with Harshit Rana after his pretty eye-catching Test debut in Perth.

Similarly, Washington Sundar was spotted batting along with the top 6 on Tuesday but didn't do the same a day later. R Ashwin on the other hand was spotted having a long chat with Gautam Gambhir who'd also spent an equal amount of time chucking some off-spinners at the world-class off-spinner. Whether that means a return to the playing XI for Ashwin, who's had the better of the Aussie top-order during his last two visits to Adelaide remains to be seen.