Xtra Time Web Desk: There will be no first class games for Virat Kohli and his team ahead of the five match test series against England which starts in Nottingham from August 04. The England and Wales Cricket Board has confirmed that the visiting Indian side will play two intra squad matches in Durham. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had requested the ECB to arrange for warm up matches, but as per the latest development Kohli and co had to be satisfied playing intra squad match as part of preparation for the test series.
Indian captain Virat Kohli expressed his disappointment of not getting any warm up games ahead of the test series following his team’s loss to New Zealand in the final of World Test Championship.
“That doesn’t depend on us,” the India skipper said when asked about his team’s preparation for the England series in the post match conference.
Kohli added, “We obviously wanted first-class games, which I believe have not been given to us. I don’t know what the reasons for that are. But yeah, other than that I think our preparation time will be ample for us to be ready for the first Test.”
BCCI Secretary Jay Shah personally spoke to ECB CEO Tom Harrison, requesting for the warm up games for the Indian test team.
As per reports in TOI, there were no official requests received by ECB from BCCI for warm up matches.
“As far as we are concerned, their schedule remains the same. They have a camp in Durham from July 15 and will play two four-day intra-squad matches amongst their extended playing squad. We don’t expect this to change,” an ECB spokesperson told TOI.
Initially, Virat Kohli and company were scheduled to play India ‘A’, who were also supposed to be in the UK for two first-class games at Northamptonshire and Leicestershire respectively. But the current COVID situation in UK coupled with the travel restrictions forced the India A tour to be cancelled.