India train for Fatullah Test in Mirpur heat

The only noise to come on the hot Monday afternoon from Milk Vita Road in Mirpur section 6 was of the screaming and whistle-blowing policemen trying to keep vehicles from getting in the way of the India team bus that chugged in slowly towards the Shere Bangla National Stadium's entrance.

A touring team's first training session in Bangladesh has been generally to get acclimatised to the heat and humidity, and the pitches. India had originally scheduled only one day of training ahead of the Fatullah Test but a few days before their arrival for their 18-day tour, they added the afternoon session on Monday, a few hours after their plane landed at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.

They had requested the BCB for it to be held in Fatullah, the venue for the Test, but Bangladesh's training schedule was already set for the afternoon in Fatullah.

At the Academy ground in Mirpur, there was a lot of running around of the local team attendants with water bottles, energy drinks and juices while everyone else tried to find a bit of shade. There was very little shade except on the western end of the ground where the slightly higher wall on the side of the road offers a bit of respite. There are no trees around, only a few buildings overlooking the practice area.

The ground in Fatullah, despite being almost in the middle of an industrial area, was surprisingly breezy on Sunday morning despite the heat going over 35 degrees even in the shade. In Mirpur on Monday, there was no such breeze but when the sun did go behind a cloud, there was momentary relief.

India did a bit of warm-up with some stretching, light jog and then a spot of football, the only time there was some noise from their group during the whole session. The nets went on for more than three hours as they played spin, throw-downs and pace from left to right in three nets.

India's Test captain Virat Kohli batted throughout the first hour, first taking throwdowns and then pace and spin. He hardly missed deliveries but did leave a few fuller ones outside the offstump from the seamers. Rohit Sharma, M Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and Shikhar Dhawan batted for a long time before R Ashwin also got a hit.

Meanwhile, a four-man group took part in a close-in catching session. Varun Aaron was taken aside after a bowling stint to take some high catches at the eastern end of the ground. In the nets everything was happening full pelt, especially Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar who bowled for more than an hour.

The spinners - Harbhajan Singh, Ashwin and Karn Sharma - bowled for nearly the entire session but they had it slightly easier than the rest as they bowled mostly in the shade. Among the net bowlers provided by the BCB, only one bowled some round-arm left-arm spin. It has usually been Bangladesh's practice not to give touring sides the comfort of facing left-arm spinners in the nets.

Both India and Bangladesh will train in Fatullah on Tuesday. It is the first Test at the venue since 2006 when Bangladesh faced Australia with none in the current home squad having played in that game. India played there in a few ODIs last year but a Test match remains an altogether different proposition. As a result, one of the first questions in their pre-match post conference would certainly be about the short preparation time in Bangladesh, and Fatullah in particular.