T20 World Cup 2024: India practiced hard before the start of the tournament, Hardik bowled for an hour

The Indian team sweated it out in its first training session in New York before starting its campaign in the T20 World Cup. India is scheduled to play its first match in the tournament against Ireland on June 5 and before that, the Rohit Sharma-led team will play a practice match against Bangladesh on June 1. During the practice season, all-rounder Hardik Pandya bowled for about an hour and also practiced batting.

The Indian team practiced at the new Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York. The weather in New York was pleasant during the team's training season. However, star batsman Virat Kohli was not included in it as he has not yet joined the team. Kohli left for New York on Thursday night and he is going to join the team soon. However, doubts remain over Kohli's playing in the practice match against Bangladesh.

Hardik sweated it out

Indian team's vice-captain Hardik, who has been going through a bad phase for some time, sweated it out during the practice session and remained the main attraction of the training season. Hardik practiced hard with both bat and ball during this period. Hardik joined the team earlier this week and bowled for about an hour in the nets. Hardik was not bowling consistently for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2024, so he bowled more time in the nets to prove his fitness. After bowling, Hardik also batted for a long time in the nets. Hardik finally came out to bat and also discussed with batting coach Vikram Rathore.

Hardik was seen struggling in IPL

Hardik was seen struggling to perform with bat and ball during the IPL 2024 season. He scored 216 runs in 14 matches and took 11 wickets at an economy rate of around 11. Under Hardik's captaincy, five-time champions Mumbai Indians had a very poor performance and the team could win only four out of 14 matches and ended their campaign at the bottom of the points table. However, Hardik will be expected to perform well in the T20 World Cup as the selectors have given place to only three full-time fast bowlers in the 15-member squad.

Arshdeep and Siraj batted

Captain Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav were the first to come to bat at the nets. Both these batsmen were bowled by fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, and wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav. Interestingly, fast bowlers Arshdeep Singh and Mohammad Siraj were also sent to bat at the nets and after this, both of them also did bowling practice. At the same time, Hardik, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Shivam Dubey focused on their skills during the training season. However, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan, and Rinku Singh did light practice.