Team India arrive in Guwahati ahead of warm up game vs England
The Indian Cricket Team arrived in Guwahati on Thursday, September 28 ahead of their first warm-up fixture vs England. The Men-in-Blue will lock horns with the defending champions on Saturday, September 30. According to reports, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has travelled with the team for the warm-up games. Notably, Ashwin was included as a backup for Axar Patel during the ODI series vs Australia, after the former got ruled out of the series due to a left quadriceps strain.
In the viral video of India’s arrival, star batter Virat Kohli and captain Rohit Sharma are seen getting into the team bus as they’re welcomed by loud cheers of fans surrounding them. Following the star batting duo, Kuldeep Yadav, Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul are also seen getting into the bus.
Meanwhile, star off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been included into the Indian squad for the World Cup 2023 replacing the injured Axar Patel. Patel had missed the final of the Asia Cup 2023 and the subsequent series vs Australia after getting injured during Super fours fixture against Bangladesh in Asia Cup.
Ashwin was brought into the team in his place for the Australia series and finished as the joint second-highest wicket-taker having picked four wickets in two innings at an average of 22 and an economy of 5.17.
Ashwin has a vast experience of playing World Cups as he was also a part of India’s 2011 and 2015 World Cup squad.
India to play warm-up matches vs England and Netherlands
India will start their World Cup campaign with a warm up fixture against England in Guwahati followed by another warm-up game against Netherlands on October 03 in Thiruvananthapuram. The Rohit Sharma-led side will lock horns with Australia in their opening league fixture on Sunday, October 08 at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.
India World Cup squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav.