Deepak Hooda being prepped as a top-order option for South Africa T20Is
Deepak Hooda was being prepped for the bouncer barrage he might receive against Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, and Anrich Nortje in the T20I series against South Africa on June 9.
"I don't know how you feel but I like this set more," said India batting coach Vikram Rathour. Deepak Hooda nodded and asked India's Sri Lankan throwdown specialist Nuwan Seneviratne to continue with his underarm badminton-like serves with a tennis racquet from a short distance. The tennis balls came at different speeds but all were aimed between Hooda's chest and head. The right-hander was being prepped for the bouncer barrage he might receive against Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, and Anrich Nortje in the T20I series against South Africa on June 9.
Hooda at first wanted to get inside the line and hook it towards fine leg and long leg but on Rathour's advice, he started to meet the ball much early and aim square of the wicket.
“I've got to bat at number 3," he tells himself before whacking the tennis balls in the nets.
Practice sessions ahead of a match are generally a good way of getting an insight into the thinking of the team management. In the full-fledged nets that India had on Monday and Tuesday, the Baroda all-rounder was among the ones who spent the most time facing the frontline bowlers. He got a fair workout from two of India's fastest bowlers Umran Malik and Avesh Khan on Monday while the next day, he honed his skills against the spinners before shifting to the pull shot training with the tennis ball.
In the absence of Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav - the former rested and the latter injured - Hooda can be considered as a viable number three option. While it's still a bit of a long shot to claim that Hooda will be given a top-order slot right from the beginning of the South Africa series leapfrogging Shreyas Iyer, the 27-year-old is definitely in Team India's pipeline.
Iyer, who batted at number three in the entire IPL for Kolkata Knight Riders, was never really a number three choice for India to be honest. He can slot in at number four, where he has batted most of his international career so far if India do decide to try out Hooda at some point of time in the South Africa series.
Hooda had a fair amount of success when he was promoted to bat at number 3 by the Lucknow Super Giants in the second half of the IPL. The tall right-hander registered scores of 34, 52, 41 and 27 in the four innings he got at the top order.
India's newly-appointed captain for the South Africa series, Rishabh Pant, however, did not reveal too much when inquired about Hooda's role in the side. "As a team, we have decided to give as many opportunities to the players as we can," he said on Wednesday.
Hooda, who scored 451 runs for LSG in 15 matches this year, has batted only once in the three T20Is - all against Sri Lanka - that he has played so far. With Pant, Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik, India have a sorted middle-order, which leaves number three and four the only slots to try out Hooda ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year.