Sydney: Ahead of the T20 World Cup match against the Netherlands, the Indian team’s coaching members stressed on addressing the lack of footwork against Lokesh Rahul’s pace attack during the net session, while all-rounder Hardik, who performed brilliantly with the ball and bat against Pakistan. Pandya was given rest to recover from fatigue.
The Indian team has to play this match on Thursday, so if the team wants, Pandya can be rested in this match before the important matches of the tournament. There is an option to try Deepak Hooda in his place, who apart from batting at any order, can also bowl off-spin in the power play.
Except for Ravichandran Ashwin, all bowlers who played against Pakistan in this net session were rested. Pandya also batted for a long time against Pakistan after bowling four overs at a speed of around 140 kmph. The grounds in Australia are very big, so the batsmen have to run and score a lot of runs. Pandya was also seen struggling with a muscle strain during the Indian innings.
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During the net session, when Pandya was asked if he had a severe muscle strain, he said, “No, I don’t think so. It could be because I have never run for so many runs in T20 before. India may have defeated Pakistan in a thrilling match, but Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Lokesh Rahul, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda sweated profusely in two hours of the net session at Sydney Cricket Ground.
The biggest complaint about Rahul is that he is unable to contribute to the team with the bat in big matches. He failed to score runs in three of the last four matches against Pakistan. Rahul, who was in great form during the bilateral series against Australia and South Africa, looked under pressure in this match.
During this practice, Rahul was practiced on the balls outside the off-stump. During Rahul’s batting practice, Mohammad Siraj, Shardul Thakur and Harshal Patel were continuously asked to bowl outside the off-stump. He did not look very comfortable during this time and again and again the front part of his bat was turning towards the body. (agency)