Ahead of the 1st T20I vs England at Kanpur, MS Dhoni and Manish Pandey had special sessions practicing the art of negotiating yorkers in death overs with help from Jasprit Bumrah and Ashish Nehra
Watch Video: MS Dhoni and Manish Pandey train to tackle death over bowling
Indian players during a practice session at Green Park stadium in Kanpur on Wednesday ahead of the first India-England T20 match. Pic/PTI
Team India will take on England in the first T20 international in a few hours at Kanpur's Green Park stadium and all of India will be hoping Virat Kohli and his boys can continue their wonderful season.
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After MS Dhoni's special innings at Cuttack, where the former skipper (134 off 122) and Yuvraj Singh (150 off 127 balls) turned back the clock during their record 256-run partnership that saw India script an amazing 15-run victory in the second ODI and seal the series, all eyes will on the master finisher.
MS Dhoni in action in the nets on Wednesday. Pic courtesy BCCI Twitter account
Dhoni's ability to finish games is world renowned and he was seen at the nets on Wednesday preparing to ensure that if the opportunity arises, he can finish the job. Dhoni's batting at the death in the past year may have set tongues wagging but the former captain, in his own inimitable style, is trying to perfect the steer shot to counter the wide yorkers effectively bowled by England bowlers.
These wide yorkers, bowled by Chris Woakes in the last over of the Indian chase at Eden Gardens denied in-form Kedar Jadhav the chance to script a clean sweep by India as the hosts lost the last ODI by 5 runs while chasing 322.
Well, ahead of the first T20 International at Green Park, Dhoni had a separate session with Indian team's yorker specialist Jasprit Bumrah.
The @msdhoni challenge for Jasprit Bumrah - #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/zgm5lbwfqx
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 25, 2017
A small video uploaded on Twitter by BCCI showed Dhoni measuring a bat length from his off-stump and placing a white kookaburra there. The while ball was the marker for the length where a perfect wide yorker would be pitched.
Bumrah was then instructed to bowl the wide yorkers and Dhoni was seen trying to steer the deliveries instead of going for full blooded whacks over long-off -- one of his trademark shots.
The Gujarat slinger was pitching those wide yorkers perfectly and the 35-year-old just opened his wrists a bit to angle his shots to the left of the imaginary point fielder.
With the field restrictions in place, it is difficult for bowling sides to keep a deep point or a third man during death overs, which may be a reason for Dhoni to try out something new.
Manish Pandey in action in the nets on Wednesday. Pic courtesy BCCI Twitter account
It could also be that the master tactician Dhoni is training Bumrah on where to bowl during the death overs.
Manish Pandey, who is looking to establish himself in the Indian team was also seen practicing in the nets with warhorse Ashish Nehra bowling some toe-crushers.
#TeamIndia's warhorse Ashish Nehra gives some death overs practice to @im_manishpandey #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/Picw09Dz1u
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 25, 2017
BCCI uploaded a video of the young turk taking on the 37-year-old pacer. Pandey is seen using the straight bat to good effect as he not only keeps out Nehra, but also hits the deliveries over the left-arm pacer's head.
Now, it remains to be seen if all this practice works for Dhoni and Pandey or will it be more helpful for Bumrah and Nehra while taking on the English batsmen.
India are scheduled to play three T20 matches against England -- the first will be today in Kanpur, while Nagpur (Jan 29) and Bengaluru (Feb 1) will host the next two.
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