Following their one-week long preparatory camp in Perth that saw Team India play two practice games against an extremely strong Western Australia, Rohit Sharma & co. have hit the nets at the Gabba with just seven days left for the tournament opener.
Before flying to Melbourne for the blockbuster clash against Pakistan on October 23 at the MCG, the Men in Blue are set to play two ICC warm-up matches in Brisbane against defending champions and hosts Australia (October 17) and 2021 runner’s-up New Zealand (October 19).
Before taking the flight to Australia, India were hit with a major blow as star pacer Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the competition with a back injury which he sustained on the eve of the India-South Africa T20I series. This earned Mohammed Shami a place in the side.
Shami came into the squad from the wild as he did not play a T20 game for the Men in Blue since last year’s T20 World Cup in the UAE and it looked like he was not in the team management’s plans. Shami’s inclusion has been seen as a welcome move after the team lost Bumrah’s experience but many are worried about his fitness having not played any competitive cricket since July and only recently recovering from COVID-19.
The signs from the nets so far look good as Shami seemed at his fiery best. The veteran Indian pacer caught the eyes of cricket fans in a viral video by uprooting Dinesh Karthik’s stumps after the wicket-keeper batter tried to paddle sweep him.
Karthik also looked in fine touch with the bat apart from the lapse against Shami. The 37-year-old was spotted playing the likes of Harshal Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal with ease and middling most balls thrown at him. Karthik looks set to start the tournament as India’s first-choice wicket-keeper with Rishabh Pant sitting on the bench.
