The 15-member Indian squad, which landed in the city in batches along with the support staff, will start their three-day training camp from today at National Cricket Academy ahead of the first Test against Australia at Chennai, starting on February 22.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and co. will leave for Chennai on February 19.

India coach Duncan Fletcher-led support staff has engineered a plot for harnessing the services of out-of-the-system 15 young and unknown raw talents to bowl to the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag, over the next three days.

These raw talents, comprising of nine pacers and six spinners, have been picked from open trials at various cities before being sent to regional academies in Mumbai, Chennai and Mohali to whet their skills.

The programme is a brainchild of former NCA Director of Operations and the Current Chief Selector Sandeep Patil.

These ‘net bowlers’ will take off weight from the Indian bowlers during the camp ahead of a challenging series against the Australia.

India squad : MS Dhoni (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ishant Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashok Dinda, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Murali Vijay.

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