CUTTACK: An excited crowd made a beeline at the Barabati Stadium but to their disappointment, captain Virat Kohli and most of the Indian players skipped the optional practice session on the eve of the second ODI against England here.

Having checked in with less than 24 hours to go for the match, only three members of the team — MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane and KL Rahul — were seen in the evening practice session.

The trio batted at the nets after the usual warm-up and concluded their two-hour session with the routine pitch inspection. The teams, who always stay in the Odisha capital city of Bhubaneswar about 25 kilometres away, had to extend their stay in Pune by three more days after the first ODI on January 15 because the team hotel was booked for a wedding. Both teams landed in the Odisha capital around 2.15 pm. “It was something that had been finalised by the BCCI. The teams do not have any problem in arriving on the eve of the match,” Odisha Cricket Association CEO Bidyut Kumar Nayak told PTI. The English team members practice however were delayed for about an hour after their luggage arrived late at the airport, according to a team official. The visitors, facing a must-win situation to keep themselves afloat in the three-match series, had a full practice session.—PTI