Turning the tide in Chennai: Inside India's 4-hour grind against absence of pace

T20 World Cup: With Rinku Singh absent and Zimbabwe looming, India spent four hours on Tuesday evening in Chennai against spin and pace-off. The focus was on Abhishek Sharma's poise against spin and Sanju Samson's struggle for rhythm as they prepared to face Zimbabwe on Thursday.

“I have a soft spot for leg-spinners. In Under-15 cricket, I once fielded a side with four of them,” said Srinivasa Rao, one of Chennai’s most respected coaches. India knew exactly what they required; the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association knew exactly whom to call.

Tuesday evening at the MA Chidambaram Stadium became a trial by spin. With their second Super 8 fixture of the T20 World Cup against Zimbabwe looming on Thursday, India submitted themselves to nearly four hours of deliberate slow-bowling examination. Rao’s boys, alongside India’s own spin arsenal, ensured the batters confronted the very condition that had undone them.

It felt inevitable, perhaps even medicinal.

This batting order, heralded as an invincible juggernaut capable of scaling the 300-run peak in T20s, had been unceremoniously dismantled the moment South Africa took the pace off the ball. Chasing 188 on Sunday, they subsided for a haunting 111. The diagnostic was clear: in Chennai, the test would be one of patience and manufactured power. Could they dominate when the ball refused to come onto the bat?

All 14 available squad members trained. Only Rinku Singh was absent, having flown home due to a family emergency. The intensity was unmistakable. While the arithmetic of semi-final permutations swirled in the outside world, India’s interior world at Chepauk was one of clinical execution—refining match-ups and auditioning roles should Rinku remain unavailable for Thursday’s fixture.

Training began around 6pm. A gentle February evening settled over Chennai. The sun dipped behind the stands; birds drifted overhead. Beyond the ground, water slapped rhythmically in the swimming pool at the venue as local athletes trained, the sound carrying into the open stadium. Calm held Chepauk briefly, like the sea pausing between tides. Then India finished their warm-ups, and the stillness gave way to the sharp, unmistakable crack of bat meeting ball.