India began their tour of 2022 England on Thursday with a four-day practice match against Leicestershire at Grace Road, Leicester. Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first.
Although this is a warm-up game which will help the visitors settle into the conditions for the Edgbaston Test, starting July 1, which is the postponed fifth Test of the series of last year that India lead by 2-1.
Pujara, Pant, Bumrah, and Prasidh playing for the opposition
However, four big names of the India squad – Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna – were named in the opposing Leicestershire team.
Turns out, that there had been an arrangement made earlier by the BCCI and the ECB that some of the Indian squad members will be allowed to play for the Leicestershire side in order to provide match practice for all players of the visiting touring part; Pant was even allowed to don the gloves for Leicestershire despite the presence of their regular wicket-keeper Samuel Bates.
This is beautiful welcome by Leicestershire for Indian team. pic.twitter.com/q35TqwHae4
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) June 23, 2022
Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first; here are the teams:
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Virat Kohli, Hanuma Vihari, Srikar Bharat(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav
Leicestershire (Batting 11, Fielding 11): Samuel Evans(c), Louis Kimber, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant (w), Rehan Ahmed, Samuel Bates, Roman Walker, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Will Davis, Nathan Bowley, Abidine Sakande, Joey Evison
“Leicestershire CCC will welcome members from the India touring party into their side for tomorrow’s four-day tour match at Uptonsteel County Ground. India superstars Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna will all team up with the Leicestershire squad, captained by opening batsman Sam Evans. LCCC, BCCI and the ECB have all agreed to allow the four players from the visiting camp to be part of the Running Foxes side, in order to allow all members of the travelling party to participate in the fixture (subject to fitness),” the LCCC said in a statement.
“The match will be played with 13 players per side to provide further flexibility and help manage bowling workloads,” the statement added.
One major name that was missing, though, was that of off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin who had missed his June 16 flight due to testing Covid-19 positive. Cricbuzz has reported that Ashwin will board another flight and will be in the UK by June 24.
