Hardik Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal and Harshal Patel skipped India's optional practice session at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi which marked the beginning of the team's preparations ahead of the five-match T20I series against South Africa. BCCI sources confirmed that Hardik, Chahal and Harshal are likely to take part in the training session on Tuesday. The Gujarat Titans captain and the Rajasthan Royals leg-spinner were the only cricketers in the current India squad who played in the IPL 2022 final in Ahmedabad on May 29.
All eyes were on pace sensation Umran Malik, who earned his maiden India call-up after his exploits in the IPL. The right-arm pacer from Jammu, who regularly clocks 150 kmph, started with a few deliveries at half run up and then bowled at full tilt first to Shreyas Iyer and then Rishabh Pant and Deepak Hooda.
The most impressive among the Indian seamers, however, were Avesh Khan and Arshdeep Singh. Avesh nailed near-perfect yorkers to Ishan Kishan, Pant and Shreyas while Arshdeep was seen practicing a simulated yorker training under the watchful eyes of bowling coach Paras Mhambrey.
Mhambrey kept a baseball mitt in front of the stumps and placed a bottle about six inches away from the three sticks for Arshdeep to aim. The young left-arm seamer took about 10 attempts and landed about three in the desired areas that seemed to have impressed the bowling coach.
{{/usCountry}}Mhambrey kept a baseball mitt in front of the stumps and placed a bottle about six inches away from the three sticks for Arshdeep to aim. The young left-arm seamer took about 10 attempts and landed about three in the desired areas that seemed to have impressed the bowling coach.
{{/usCountry}}Another notable factor in India's three-hour training session, was comeback man Dinesh Karthik's batting. The veteran stumper was seen attempting the lap and ramp shots in a 10-minute-long session in front of the throwdown specialists, who were asked to vary their lengths and speed.
Among the batters, captain for this series KL Rahul, vice-captain Rishabh Pant were the most impressive. Rahul spent majority of his net session against spinners Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel. He looked in fine touch, bringing out his sweeps and lofted shots. Pant, on the other hand, was timing the ball perfectly against the likes of Umran Malik and Avesh Khan.
The first T20I will be played at this venue on June 9.