ENG vs IND: R Ashwin joins India squad after recovering from Covid-19

Team India got a massive boost on June 23 (Thursday) after their star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin joined the squad, set to take on England in a rescheduled Test match slated to start from July 1 (Friday) at Edgbaston in Birmingham.

To note, Ashwin joined the Indian camp ahead of the four-day practice match against County side Leicestershire. The prominent all-rounder had earlier missed the flight to England as he had tested positive for Covid-19. However, he has completed all the necessary protocols before joining the team.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) shared a few photos on Twitter from the practice session of the team before the start of the warm-up match between India and Leicestershire.

Hello and welcome to Day 1 of our practice match against @leicsccc #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/nUilsYz5fT

— BCCI (@BCCI) June 23, 2022

India skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss against Leicestershire and opted to bat first. Senior batter Cheteshwar Pujara, wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna are playing for Leicestershire. The Indian fans will also want that both Rohit and Virat Kohli score runs on this tour and help their side win.

“Licestershire 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 had 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. After the warm-up game, the visitors are slated to play the rescheduled Test match followed by three T20Is and the same number of ODIs from July 7 to 17.