Team India gets a new mystery pacer! Can you guess who he is?

Virat Kohli bowls to Shikhar Dhawan as Team India head coach Ravi Shastri looks on at the SSC ground yesterday. Pic/Jasvinder Sidhu

Is India captain Virat Kohli preparing himself to be a bowling option for Test matches in future! Or was he giving his speedsters some relief in hot and humid conditions here at the Sinhalese Cricket Club (SSC) yesterday.

Kohli reached the SSC ground with a brown towel around his neck to counter the energy-sapping conditions in the island's capital. But, before his turn to bat in the nets arrived, the skipper was seen bowling to the India openers Shikhar Dhawan and Abhinav Mukund from a short run-up with a semi-old ball even as some of the seamers - Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav - were seen taking a break from the sweltering heat.

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In 58 Tests, Kohli has so far bowled 25 overs, giving away 70 runs, without picking a wicket. His last six-over spell was against New Zealand at Wellington in 2014.

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"He is still young and he is still learning. I can see a big difference in his approach now than what it was when he was captain in his first Test. I was there in Adelaide when he captained India for the first time. His body language is very positive now and you can see that he has matured a lot and he will continue to grow. For his age, he has done quite a lot. There are signs of him being up there with the very best," said India head coach Ravi Shastri ahead of tomorrow's SSC Test.