Debasis Sen, London: Yuvraj Singh missed yet another training session with the Indian team here in London today. The stylish southpaw had to be rushed to the hospital after complaining of viral fever. He was later released in the day and is likely to miss tomorrow’s warm up game against Bangladesh.
Yuvraj is accompanied by his wife Hazel Keech here in London.
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma has joined the practice session today. He was seen batting at the start of the nets along with Dinesh Karthik and Kedar Jadhav.
The Indians had an optional training session at the Oval with the fast bowlers being given a break. Indians will look to have some quality practice ahead of their clash with Pakistan in Birmingham. The Indian team had a convincing 45-run victory against New Zealand in a rain-curtailed opening warm-up match.
Rohi Sharma is very likely to open the batting for India tomorrow along with Shikhar Dhawan. Rohit missed out on the first game as personal commitments led to him joining the squad on Saturday evening.
With Ajinkya Rahane failing as an opener in the first warm-up game, the team management will definitely try out the option of opening the batting with Rohit.
The Indian captain will feel a lot more confident after his fifty in the first warm up game against New Zealand. Kohli would prefer another good hit out there in the middle along with Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who looked impressive during his brief stint.
The team management would also like to give Kedar Jadhav a chance to get a decent hit out there in the middle.
On being asked about the warm up game against Bangladesh, Kedar said, “We treat every game with the same intensity. So it;ll be another practice game for us where we want to implement whatever plans we have and get the best out of it.”
Bangladesh has been a very decent side in 50-overs cricket. A testimony to that was their quarter-final finish during the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
India’s bowling attack however looked good against the Kiwis, bowling them out for 189.
There are some ‘happy problems’ for skipper Kohli, who has three potent new ball options in Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami to choose from.
The pace quartet of Mustafizur Rahaman, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed and skipper Mashrafe Mortaza can prove to be more than a handful for any opposition on a given day.
In fact, India lost an ODI away series against Bangladesh back in 2015 when Mustafizur was relatively new to international cricket.
Facing them in real match time will mean good preparation ahead of the marquee clash against Pakistan, next Sunday.