Team India delayed the start of their training session today due to the lunar eclipse. It was due to start around 6 PM, but it was delayed until 7:30, and when it started, all the players were focused at the job in hand. However, one man who stood out in the nets on the evening was the all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who batted for over two hours, 135 minutes to be precise, with assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate and head coach Gautam Gambhir having a close look at his hitting.
He started batting first and against the bowlers, he punched and drove while working on placement and timing. However, when it came to facing throwdowns from Doeschate in a separate net, he went full throttle – going after the ball with full power. But there were issues in his batting, with the bat turning in his hands and his hips not twisting fluently. He had a chat with Ryan and then again the work continued.
He again switched to a different net later to face regular bowlers and worked on his bat swing. The training session started a little after 7:30 PM and Hardik, who went in to bat first, was the last man standing at around 10:10 when the nets ended. He seemed focused on improving his powerhitting and seemed desperate to get his batting right for the big semifinal clash against England.
If the nets have really worked for him, it will only be known to us on the match day on Thursday at the jam-packed Wankhede Stadium.
First look of the pitch revealed
Given the way Hardik Pandya has trained his powerhitting today, all indications are that it will be a flat deck at the Wankhede Stadium on March 5 for the second semifinal of the T20 World Cup. England vs West Indies and Nepal vs Italy matches in the group stage happened on the same surface. West Indies defended 196 runs against England in a 7 PM game, to win by 30 runs and dew will once again play an important role in the knockout encounter.
Who will come out on top? Well, only time will tell…
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