The Leicestershire County Cricket Club (LCCC) confirmed on the eve of the four-day warmup match against India that a few of the visiting team’s players will be part of their playing XI when the teams take the field at the Grace Road ground in Leicester on June 23.
Indian stars like Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, and Prasidh Krishna have been added to the Leicestershire county team for the four-day warm-up match against India.
LCCC, BCCI, and the ECB have all agreed to allow the four players from the visiting camp to be part of the Leicestershire XI, in order to allow all members of the traveling party to participate in the fixture (subject to fitness). The Indian players will be turning up for the rival team under county skipper Sam Evans.
ENG v IND 2022: WATCH- Virat Kohli practicing in the nets before Leicestershire warmup game
The match will be played with 13 players per side to provide further flexibility and help manage bowling workloads.
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 leads the series 2-1.
"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 in a statement.
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It was also reported that R Ashwin is on his way to England after missing the team flight due to contracting the Covid-19 virus. India's selectors have named Navdeep Saini, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, and Simarjeet Singh as the net bowlers for the tour. While Saini and Nagarkoti are with the squad, Simarjeet’s arrival has been delayed.
Here are the squads for the warm-up match:
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.
(Leicestershire website inputs)
