diff --git a/deeplake/enterprise/test_pytorch.py b/deeplake/enterprise/test_pytorch.py
index a803d1e1c0..f22757d4ae 100644
--- a/deeplake/enterprise/test_pytorch.py
+++ b/deeplake/enterprise/test_pytorch.py
@@ -6,7 +6,11 @@
 
 from deeplake.util.remove_cache import get_base_storage
 from deeplake.core.index.index import IndexEntry
-from deeplake.tests.common import requires_torch, requires_libdeeplake
+from deeplake.tests.common import (
+    requires_torch,
+    requires_libdeeplake,
+    convert_data_according_to_torch_version,
+)
 from deeplake.core.dataset import Dataset
 from deeplake.constants import KB
 
@@ -458,7 +462,7 @@ def test_pytorch_decode(hub_cloud_ds, compressed_image_paths, compression):
     ptds = hub_cloud_ds.dataloader().pytorch(decode_method={"image": "tobytes"})
 
     for i, batch in enumerate(ptds):
-        image = batch["image"]
+        image = convert_data_according_to_torch_version(batch["image"])
         assert isinstance(image, bytes)
         if i < 5 and not compression:
             np.testing.assert_array_equal(
diff --git a/deeplake/integrations/pytorch/shuffle_buffer.py b/deeplake/integrations/pytorch/shuffle_buffer.py
index 9793a45a1a..08f13f7e8b 100644
--- a/deeplake/integrations/pytorch/shuffle_buffer.py
+++ b/deeplake/integrations/pytorch/shuffle_buffer.py
@@ -118,6 +118,10 @@ def _num_torch_tensors(self, sample):
             return 0
         if isinstance(sample, TorchTensor):
             return 1
+        elif isinstance(sample, bytes):
+            return 0
+        elif isinstance(sample, str):
+            return 0
         elif isinstance(sample, dict):
             return sum(self._num_torch_tensors(tensor) for tensor in sample.values())
         elif isinstance(sample, Sequence):
diff --git a/deeplake/requirements/tests.txt b/deeplake/requirements/tests.txt
index 1ccbf435d9..c4de825ac1 100644
--- a/deeplake/requirements/tests.txt
+++ b/deeplake/requirements/tests.txt
@@ -16,3 +16,5 @@ boto3-stubs[essential]
 lz4
 rich
 wandb
+
+pandas; python_version >= '3.11' and sys_platform == 'win32'
diff --git a/deeplake/tests/common.py b/deeplake/tests/common.py
index eaaa5f6397..fac807d1d2 100644
--- a/deeplake/tests/common.py
+++ b/deeplake/tests/common.py
@@ -142,9 +142,7 @@ def __exit__(self, *args, **kwargs):
 
 
 def convert_data_according_to_torch_version(batch):
-    import torch
-
-    if torch.__version__ < "2.0.0":
+    if isinstance(batch, List):
         return batch[0]
     else:
         return batch