GUWAHATI: Much before India announced the final 15-member World Cup squad late on Thursday night, social media was abuzz with Ravichandran Ashwin landing in Guwahati for their first official warmup game of the tournament. Left-arm spinner Axar Patel, who failed to recover in time to retain his name in the final squad, was conspicuous by his absence.
The Men in Blue started arriving in the city in batches starting early evening and the senior off-spinner could be seen in the first group comprising the likes of Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul and captain Rohit Sharma himself. Head coach Rahul Dravid and batting coach Vikram Rathour were there, too, in the first batch.
India will play England at Barsapara Cricket Stadium on Saturday before flying to Thiruvananthapuram to play the Netherlands for their second and final warmup match on October 3. On Friday, India and England both are scheduled to practice at Amingaon cricket ground.
Bangladesh, Lanka players sweat it out at Barsapara: Ahead of their first official warmup match of the ODI World Cup here on Friday, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka players sweated it out at Barsapara Cricket Stadium. In very hot and humid conditions, Bangladesh were the first team to arrive for the practice session in the afternoon while Sri Lanka did their nets under the lights on Thursday.
Both teams warmed up at the main ground before hitting the nets in the stadium compound. Bangladesh will look to leave behind the recent controversy surrounding the exclusion of senior batter Tamim Iqbal and iron out the problem areas before embarking on the main journey.
Sri Lanka, on the other hand, would aim to regroup and get their confidence back after the drubbing they got at the hands of India in the Asia Cup final about ten days back.
