Chester-le-Street: As one team India is playing the 2nd ODI against Sri Lanka in Colombo, the other team is playing a practice game in England. First time in the history of Indian cricket, two different squads are playing in two different international events. As Shikhar Dhawan led ODI side is taking on the field on Sunday, a Virat Kohli-led Test side has taken the field in Durham for a practice session against a County Select Side.
Surprisingly, Avesh Khan and Washington Sundar are the two Indian players who are playing in the County Select side. Avesh Khan in fact bowled the second over for CS XI. The move comes as team India wants all its players to get ample match time before taking the field against England in the first Test on 4 August. Virat Kohli is also missing from the playing eleven. In his absence, Rohit Sharma is leading team India as Ajinkya Rahane is also rested.
It is not the first time that an Indian player is playing against team India. Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar also took the field against India and played a match with the Pakistan team before even debuting for India in International cricket.
The match is available live on Durham Cricket's official YouTube channel. See the below space for Live Action:
County Select Squad: Zak Chappell, Jake Libby, Robert Yates, Will Rhodes (c), Lyndon James, James Rew (wk), Liam Patterson-White, Jack Carson, Craig Miles, Avesh Khan, Washington Sundar, Ethan Bamber, Rehan Ahmed, Haseeb Hameed, James Bracey
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, KL Rahul (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj