India's top-seven takes shape amid Perth rain and intense nets

@I0$ . The rain had already started to get heavier, but Virat Kohli was in no mood to stop batting. Nor was he keen on letting Dhruv Jurel leave either, as he urged the stylish right-hander to stay put batting.

Kohli had been in there for over 40 minutes by then and had faced the first group of seamers led by Prasidh Krishna. He'd then moved to the adjoining net to take on Mukesh Kumar and the rest, as the rain started pelting down. Wiping his bat on his pants in between facing deliveries, Kohli soldiered on, and so did Jurel, before both had to bail out, sticking their equipment under their shirts. While a lot of attention was focused on Kohli, as he went through his routines, pulling off exquisite drives in between plays and misses, Jurel probably looked the best of all the Indian batters on show on Tuesday (November 19) morning.

And if anything, the 23-year-old from Uttar Pradesh should have been the one hogging the spotlight at the Optus Stadium, three days out from the opening Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy series. Jurel had impressed with the bat across both innings at the MCG @L0$. He'd also looked solid during his knock in the match simulation at the WACA. And now, here he was priming to make a return to the Test XI, as a specialist batter.

You'd think so with some certainty too when the reserve wicket-keeper of the Test squad is spotted spending 15-20 minutes each taking catches at silly-point and third slip. Like Jurel was on Tuesday. It started with him being put through the test in close-in positions by the coaching staff. He was soon joined by Devdutt Padikkal, who'd started the fielding session at first slip alongside Virat Kohli and KL Rahul.

Padikkal, who till three days ago was all set to leave Australia along with the other India A players, had only been @L1$ after Shubman Gill had picked up a thumb injury at the WACA. His presence in the cordon at the start of India's first training session at the venue of the opening Test was another strong indication about the make-up of India's playing XI, at least in terms of batting options. Padikkal was also the first to hit the main practice area at the back of the stadium along with Rahul in an adjoining net. The two were soon joined by the other batters.

With Rahul paired with fellow opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, Padikkal with Kohli, and Rishabh Pant with Jurel, it more or less gave a clear enough picture of India's batting line-up come Friday, November 22.

Padikkal, like Jurel, was among the runs against Australia A, but also looked the part facing Jasprit Bumrah on a tricky WACA pitch on Saturday during the match simulation. He was also one of the few batters not to be dismissed and ended up batting through the entire first session before being retired out. Perfect time as it turns out now for the stylish left-hander to remind the selectors of his ability to potentially succeed in these conditions.

For the record, Sarfaraz Khan, the incumbent No 6 for India, did have a go in the nets too, though he was mainly seen facing throwdowns after being paired up with Ravindra Jadeja. Sarfaraz also spent some time at first slip once Padikkal was done having a go first. Abhimanyu Easwaran, the specialist opener picked in the squad, was a quiet bystander for large parts of training, before getting a late opportunity to face a few deliveries once the rain subsided briefly.

0EM2A0RwD8

So, if the make-up of India's top-six does look like Rahul, Jaiswal, Padikkal, Kohli, Pant and Jurel, then the big question is what their bowling attack will comprise of. What is certain for now is that Bumrah will captain the team in Perth and share the new-ball with Mohammed Siraj, both of whom didn't bowl on Tuesday, though they both delivered multiple spells on Saturday and had a lengthy go in the nets on Sunday morning. The intrigue firstly surrounds the identity of the third member of the pace attack.

Krishna was the one who seemed to do most of the bowling with regards to the rest of the fast bowlers in the squad. He was effective too, just like he'd been in the 'A' games. Using his height and his ability to generate bounce, he was a handful for most of the Indian batters, including having Kohli edging at a catchable height towards the virtual slip cordon. Kohli was also spotted giving Krishna some words of advice with an arm around the tall seamer's shoulders. And Krishna had walked towards the net arm in arm with bowling coach Morne Morkel.

Harshit Rana, who has looked the part every time he's had a ball in his hand so far in Perth, didn't get a bowl during the truncated session, standing at the back of the practice area by the sight-screen along with reserve pacer Yash Dayal. Krishna, with two Tests under the belt, could be the front-runner at the moment to come in to the side, but Rana cannot be too far behind in terms of the pecking order. Akash Deep the incumbent No 3 of the pace attack did join the net which had Mukesh and Navdeep Saini operating in it for an impressive burst late in the session, including to Kohli and Jurel before the interruption. At one point he had Kohli reaching out to a widish full delivery, missing it and hitting the floor as he lost his balance, but also more due to slight annoyance at having reached out that far.

Then you have the question of the No 8. You'd think it'd be a very justifiable pick if the Indian team management does go in with the experience of R Ashwin on a surface that Nathan Lyon has flourished on over the years. Head coach Gautam Gambhir was spotted having a chat with both Ashwin and Jadeja by the Test pitch before Ashwin went and studied the pitch alongside the team analyst, Hari. Ashwin then joined Jadeja and Washington Sundar in the 'spin' net and wheeled away for a good 45 minutes before the rain came down, and he also then had a brief batting session. The veteran off-spinner had bowled for over an hour during the centre-wicket net session at the WACA on Sunday too, while Jadeja had not bowled at all during the three days that India were at Perth's older cricket centre.

The only reason Ashwin doesn't play is if either India pick a fourth seamer in Rana, who is also handy with the bat, or they take a real punt by handing Nitish Kumar Reddy the Test cap, as the seam-bowling all-rounder. Reddy did bowl quite a bit along with Krishna to the likes of Kohli, Padikkal and Rahul. He was quite nippy too with his skiddish trajectory off the surface, with the senior batters constantly in his ear about what he was doing right and what he could be working on more.

There are a few questions for India to answer over the next two days before things kick off in Perth, even if they seem to have found a formula to come up with a playing XI that still should be a handful despite some key missing boxes.