India middle-order Hanuma Vihari has cautioned that the batsmen need to be careful with their shot selection while playing with the Dukes ball in England. The Andhra batsman has been in England playing for Warwickshire in the county championship and has had more practice than the Indian contingent which arrived in England recently.

India team-both men’s and women- reached Southampton on June 3 and will undergo three days of hard quarantine before being allowed to practice outdoors and mingle with each other as they prepare for the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) and the five-Test matches against England.

Thanks to his experience in county cricket, Vihari believes the Dukes unlike the Kookaburra ball (in Australia) has something to offer to the bowlers throughout the day.

"The Kookaburra gets soft in Australia after a while. But the Dukes does something all day -- off the wicket or in the air. There's always something for the bowlers and that is the key challenge. When I came to England in April, it was quite cold. Even if you believe you are set, you can still be surprised by the movement. Like when I got out in my 30s against Essex, where I thought the wicket was quite good to bat on, but the odd ball was doing something because of the hard seam on the Dukes," he told ESPNCricinfo.

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Vihari had made his Test debut in 2018 against England in Oval and mentioned tips given by captain Virat Kohli then, which had proved invaluable at that time.

"At that point, my trigger movements were different compared to now. I was young and playing my first game. I was moving more than I would have liked to at that point. My trigger movements were so far across that what he said helped me deal with the straight delivery better. Those cues helped and I ended up scoring runs and batting comfortably. But now I feel I am setting up to face the outswinger and inswinger decently. Now my game is much more in control. I know what my trigger movements are," he said.

"Yes, it depends on where we are playing. In Australia it was more towards leg stump because there is no lateral movement there, so you can play beside the line of the ball. Here, in England, you have to get more in line and judge the off stump more because of the movement of the ball. I start on the middle stump and because I do the trigger [back and across], I end up between off and middle. At the same time, you have to remember that if it is a stump-line ball, you have to play straight," he pointed.

Vihari once again pointed out that the biggest challenge of batting in England is facing the Dukes ball which keeps the bowlers in the game at all times of the day.

"Definitely, that's the challenge here. The overhead conditions play a part as well because when it is sunny, it gets a bit easier to bat, but when it is overcast, the ball moves all day. That was the challenge I faced early on in this season of county cricket -- because it was quite cold and the ball was doing a lot off the wicket,” he added.

He also said that he learned that he should play a lot late while playing in England, after scoring a 23-ball duck on his county debut and been dismissed by Stuart Broad.

(ANI inputs)