Hardik bowls full tilt with tweaked action

Ahmedabad, March 9

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All-rounder Hardik Pandya has started bowling full tilt at the nets with a slightly tweaked action ahead of the five-match T20 series against England, giving the Indian team an additional bowling option in white-ball format that they have missed for some time.

Hardik uploaded a video of his net session on his Twitter page, which mainly was a collage of his booming hits as head coach Ravi Shastri, batting coach Vikram Rathour and skipper Virat Kohli looked intently.

However, it was the last 10 seconds of the footage that really caught the attention when he strode in to bowl.

Since suffering stress fractures in his back in 2019, Hardik has rarely bowled. He was forced to bowl during the Australia ODIs at a time when his action was undergoing a change.

Former national selector and Test batsman Devang Gandhi has noted the change in his action.

“It seems that he has reduced the length of his jump and in turn the stride is shorter. If you have a big jump, automatically, your stride will be longer and there will be more pounding on landing,” Gandhi told PTI.

Pandya could be an important cog not only during the T20 World Cup in October but also the seamer all-rounder that India will desperately need in England where they are scheduled to play six Test matches, beginning with World Test Championship final. — PTI