World Cup: India ready to live without Hardik; long net session for bowlers

To prepare for this adverse situation, India's tailenders, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Shami, have been doing their best with the bat during practice sessions ahead of India vs England match

Hardik Pandya is set to miss the majority of India's ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 campaign after suffering an ankle injury during the India vs Bangladesh match. It is expected that Hardik will return for India's game against England, but it has been learnt that he has not started bowling yet at the National Cricket Stadium in Bengaluru.

He is expected to get fit ahead of India's game against the Netherlands on 12 November. With India set to qualify for the semi-finals after winning five out of five matches upfront, the team also doesn't want to hurry him into the scheme of things.

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In his absence, though, India could lose momentum if they lose even one match out of the four games. With captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid determined to end the drought of the ICC title, the tailenders have to step up.

After five matches in the ICC Cricket World Cup, India's top order, led by Rohit and Virat Kohli, ensured that they would finish the game. This also meant the lower order didn't get a chance to bat in the middle, which could become a bane when the top order and middle order fail.

To prepare for this adverse situation, India's tailenders have been doing their best with the bat during practice sessions.

Bumrah tries variety of shots in net session before India vs England match

In the first net session at Lucknow Stadium, India's premier bowler Jasprit Bumrah was one of the first, along with Rohit and Shubman Gill, to bat in the nets. Bumrah batted for more than 30 minutes, trying sweeps and forward defensive shots against Ashwin and local net bowlers.

India's batting coach Vikram Rathour also assisted him while batting, giving throw-downs around the good and back-of-length area. Bumrah had been working on his batting lately, as he was the one to hit the most runs against a bowler in one over in a Test. Bumrah created a world record on 2 July 2022, when he thrashed England pacer Stuart Broad for 35 runs in an over.

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Siraj fails but rises again next day with bat in hand

Not only Bumrah, but Siraj was also seen during the nets with a bat. In the first net session in Lucknow, Siraj bowled with full throttle at first, and before padding up for batting, he had a lengthy chat with Rohit Sharma. He was diligently listening to Rohit Sharma's advice.

Though Siraj's net session against the off-spin of Shubman Gill went horribly wrong, as he failed to connect most of the deliveries from the middle of the bat, he looked a different player the next day.

He started the nets on 27 October with a bat and played against a variety of bowlers with good confidence. Once again, Rathour gave throw-downs to the Hyderabadi pacer. He looked confident after batting for over 30 minutes in the nets.

Mohammed Shami has been one of the few players in the Indian cricket team who didn't turn up for practice. He looked tired during the full-throttle short spell he bowled to Ishan Kishan, Ravindra Jadeja, and Shubman Gill. After that, he went to face net bowlers with one pad and batted against them for over 20 minutes.