ENG vs IND: Team India sweats it out in the first practice session at the Old Trafford

The Men in Blue are set to begin their stern test with the three-match T20I series against England on Tuesday. They are high on confidence after the thumping victories over Ireland and would be eyeing to continue in the same vein going forward on the tour. Team India must have realised that it will not be easy for them to go past England which is the reason they were seen sweating it out in the nets at the Old Trafford on Sunday.

It goes without saying that the tussle between these two teams is much-awaited for the fans and it will be a close contest. Moreover, the ODI series will be crucial for the teams as the World Cup is all set to commence in the same country next year in June. The visitors mostly would be looking to fine-tune their skills and get used to the conditions in England.

Pandya working on slower deliveries

With Jasprit Bumrah being ruled out of the T2o International series due to the thumb injury, the team management is expecting for Hardik Pandya to step up to the task. According to News 18, the all-rounder was seen mixing slow off-cutters along with the usual length deliveries as the variations are crucial for a bowler in the modern cricketing era. He has to shoulder more responsibility now and try to be a bit more economical while also picking some wickets.

Apart from him, it was Shikhar Dhawan who grabbed the eyeballs as he devoted an extra time to counter short-pitched deliveries. He took the throwdowns with a heavy plastic ball and tried to counter the extra bounce and then perfected his trademark pull shots against tennis ball.

The likes of Umesh Yadav and Siddarth Kaul honed their death bowling skills as the latter was seen bowling to the skipper Virat Kohli who dug out a few exceptional deliveries and was impressed a lot. The captain also took throwdowns from the batting coach Sanjay Bangar with him middling most of the balls which was not surprising.

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