The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has cleared the air regarding skipper Virat Kohli and vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane’s absence from the playing XI for the warm-up game against County Select XI.
WATCH- India's top three Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal and Cheteshwar Pujara flop in warm-up game
Fans were left baffled as Kohli and Rahane’s names were missing from the team sheet when BCCI shared the playing XI for the three-day practice match on Twitter.
However, the Indian board clarified that Kohli felt some stiffness in his back and, thus, he couldn’t take the field for the warm-up fixture, which started on Tuesday (July 20).
“Captain Virat Kohli felt some stiffness in his back on late Monday evening and he has been advised rest from the three-day first-class warm-up game by the BCCI Medical Team,” BCCI said in a media release.
“Vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane has mild swelling around his left upper hamstring. This has been addressed by an injection. He is not available for the three-day first-class warm-up game. The BCCI Medical Team is monitoring him, and he is expected to fully recover well in time for the first Test against England starting from 4th August at Nottingham,” the release further added.
BCCI also confirmed that Washington Sundar and Avesh Khan are playing for County Select XI as some of their players were unavailable either due to injury or close contacts of a Covid-19 positive person.
“The ECB made a request to the Indian team management to let two players from the Indian contingent play for County Select XI after some of their players were deemed to be unavailable either due to injury or close contacts of a Covid-19 positive person. Accordingly, Washington Sundar and Avesh Khan have been made available to play for their team,” it said.
Team India’s Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, KL Rahul (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Akshar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
County Select XI: Haseeb Hameed, Jake Libby, Robert Yates, Washington Sundar, Will Rhodes (c), James Rew (wk), Lyndon James, Liam Patterson-White, Jack Carson, Craig Miles, Avesh Khan
