Pant, Pujara and Bumrah to represent Leicestershire in warm-up fixture

A match eve is normally an optional practice day for the Indian team but at the Uptonsteel County Ground in Leicester almost all the Indians turned up for a net session. Skipper Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Hanuma Vihari, Jasprit Bumrah and Shardul Thakur among others practised for over two hours on Wednesday (June 22) morning. The visiting Indian team takes on Leicestershire County Cricket Club (LCCC) in a four-day game from Thursday (June 23).

Virat Kohli was conspicuous by absence but team sources have rubbished the talk that his absence is due to Covid infection. "All players are available for selection and there is not a single Covid case in the camp," a team source told Cricbuzz denying reports in a section of the media to the contrary.
Meanwhile, Cheteshwar Pujara, Pant, Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna have been drafted into the rival LCCC squad. They will play under county skipper Sam Evans in what has been a pre-match arrangement between BCCI, ECB and the LCCC. The arrangement, needless to emphasise, is to provide match practice to all the members of the visiting side. It will be the only warm-up game for the Indian team before the July1-5 Edgbaston Test, which is the postponed fifth game of the series of last year. India lead the series 2-1.

"Licestershire CCC will welcome members from the India touring party into their side for tomorrow's four-day tour match at Uptonsteel County Ground. India superstars Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna will all team up with the Leicestershire squad, captained by opening batsman Sam Evans. LCCC, BCCI and the ECB have all agreed to allow the four players from the visiting camp to be part of the Running Foxes side, in order to allow all members of the travelling party to participate in the fixture (subject to fitness)," the LCCC said in a statement.

"The match will be played with 13 players per side to provide further flexibility and help manage bowling workloads," the statement added. The other players in the LCCC ranks, apart from Evans, Pujara, Pant, Bumrah and Prasidh are, Rehan Ahmed, Sam Bates (wk), Nat Bowley, Will Davis, Joey Evison, Louis Kimber, Abi Sakande and Roman Walker.

"India bring a magical feeling to Grace Road. During their training sessions here you can feel the buzz already. We are extremely excited to be welcoming some of the world's best Test players and having a truly festival atmosphere with the support of the diverse Leicestershire community. It will be a great experience for our squad, especially players like Rehan Ahmed, to play against Virat Kohli and India's huge talents. We are sure both teams will benefit from the four days," county CEO Sean Jarvis told Cricbuzz through a statement.

Meanwhile, it has been learnt that R Ashwin, who missed the flight earlier due to Covid positive result, is on his way to England.India's selectors have named Navdeep Saini, Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Simarjeet Singh as the net bowlers for the tour. The first two named are with the squad already. The departure of Singh is believed to have been delayed.

Squads

India: Rohit Sharma (Capt), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav.

Leicestershire CCC: Sam Evans (Capt), Rehan Ahmed, Sam Bates (wk), Nat Bowley, Will Davis, Joey Evison, Louis Kimber, Abi Sakande, Roman Walker, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna.