India vs South Africa: Hardik Pandya Puts In Hard Yards As India Complete Second Day Of Training

It was all-rounder Hardik Pandya who put in the hard yards as India wrapped up its second day of training on Tuesday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. Soon after wrapping up the press conference, head coach Rahul Dravid went to the middle to oversee the proceedings and out came Hardik to train and acclimatise himself with conditions ahead of the five-match T20I series against South Africa, beginning Thursday.

Hardik first went through the routine drills and warmed himself for a training session that lasted almost three hours. Pandya first bowled alongside Bhuvneshwar Kumar and bowling coach Paras Mhambrey was standing behind the stumps to oversee the proceedings.

The all-rounder first bowled gently and he got himself into the action and soon he went all out. Mhambrey also was seen giving him tips and as the session went on for 20 odd minutes, the duo engaged in chat as they wrapped up the bowling session.

With the bat, Hardik did not have that long a session and as the proceedings were coming to close, Hardik ran a few laps as he tried to make full use of the practice session. It is important to note that Hardik is making a comeback to the Indian side after the T20 World Cup played in UAE last year.

Talking about batting, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant, Venkatesh Iyer all got a decent hit in the nets. Hooda and Ishan Kishan also asked the throwdown specialists to practice the pull shot as the Proteas pace attack is for sure set to dish out bouncers at will. Kishan also practiced the cut shot.

Veteran wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik had a hit with the bat at the nets and he faced the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umran Malik. Karthik was looking to practice the aerial shots while Bhuvneshwar was bowling yorkers after yorkers at the batter.

Kuldeep Yadav and Harshal Patel also had a small stint with the bat at the centre wicket. Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik first bowled at the nets and then they walked out to the centre pitch to bowl.

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Arshdeep tried to master his yorker while Umran looked to bowl decent line and length. It was impressive to see how fast the ball was travelling out of Umran’s hands.

The first T20I between India and South Africa will be played on Thursday.