Ravichandran Ashwin undergoes fitness drills at the Brabourne Stadium

R Ashwin will have a key role to play in the Tests

Even as the Board Presidents XI and South Africa fought it out in the two-day warm-up encounter at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday, a familiar figure was also seen at the venue, training hard to get back to full fitness.

After having had to miss last 4 ODIS against South Africa, Ravichandran Ashwin was seen doing fitness drills under the supervision of team physio Patrick Farhart and physical trainer S Basu near the boundary line. The off-spinner was also seen doing a few agility drills and throwing exercises under the former’s guidance, following he had a word with the latter before walking away, BCCI reports.

During a promotional event recently, the 29-year-old cricketer revealed that he was close to attaining full fitness and expressed confidence over doing well in the Tests. He had also said at the time that India showed good fighting spirit to level the series at 2-2, but one bad day in Mumbai costed them dearly.

“I'm close to achieving full fitness and I'm feeling fine. I'm confident of bowling well in the series.

“It is not that we played poorly. We fought our way back into the ODI series brilliantly after we found ourselves trailing 1-2. We levelled the series 2-2 here and it was up to the last match in Mumbai where anything could have happened. Unfortunately, things didn't go our way and we lost," he had said at the time.

The two teams kick start the four-match Test series on November 5^th at the PCA Stadium in Mohali.