KS Bharat: We have plans to counter England's aggression, worked on sweep shot

Visakhapatnam, Feb 1 (PTI) There is no panic in the injury-hit Indian camp, declared wicketkeeper K S Bharat on Thursday, asserting that the home side has made fresh plans to deal with England's attacking approach, including employing the sweep shot as and when required in the second Test here.

Bharat, who will be playing in front of his home crowd, said the team has worked on its shortcomings in the series-opener in which England staged a sensational comeback to win the game by 28 runs. Led by Ollie Pope, England batters threw the Indian spinners off their plans with a barrage of sweeps and reverse sweeps. They are set to maintain that intensity in the Test beginning here on Friday.

"They really played very well. Credit to them. Ollie Pope really played good shots," Bharat said in the pre-match press conference.

India would be without star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and top batter K L Rahul due to injuries.

"In our team meetings we spoke about the things we could have done better and yes, we certainly have few plans. (We are) definitely looking at the way how they went about the first game, playing some reverse. That's something we have definitely worked on," he added.

Indian batters, don't play a lot of sweep shots but were seen practising that shot in the two training sessions before the second Test. Does this mean that the home team will play more square of the wicket? "Playing in India, we play a lot of cricket on these tracks. It's not that we don't know how to sweep, reverse sweep or pedal, but on that particular day depending on the situation of the team, we as batters take our calls," Bharat said.

"And it is very clear to us to bat with freedom. We also practised in the reverse before the first game. But playing out in the centre, it's the batters' individual plan.

"If the team demands us to play in a certain way, then we are up to it," said the 30-year-old who batted well in the second innings in Hyderabad before getting a beauty from Tom Hartley.

Indian batters surrendering to the inexperienced Hartley was surprising but Bharat defended their effort.

"We don't play the bowlers, we play the ball. On any given day, it can be experienced or inexperienced (bowler), there is nothing like inexperienced in cricket. On that particular day, if someone bowls well, you have to give credit to them.

"After the game, the atmosphere is absolutely relaxed. They told us not to panic, which we are not. But then the instruction is very clear, it's a long Test series and we have played a lot of series like this in the past," he said.

Six players train in optional session ====================== While the whole squad turned up on Wednesday, only six players came for practice in the optional session this morning.

They were Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Sourabh Kumar, Dhruv Jurel, Rajat Patidar and Sarfaraz Khan.

Uncapped Rajat and Sarfaraz, who are fighting for a place in the eleven, had a long healthy chat during the nets.

Gill, who has not been able to replicate his white ball form in Test cricket, put in the hard yards and faced a lot of left-arm spin. PTI