India-New Zealand warm-up clash ahead of Champions Trophy to be telecast live

As we approach the end of IPL 10, another big ICC tournament is just round the corner with the ICC Champions Trophy starting in 10 days time. The top 8 teams of the world will lock horns in the 18-day competition and the final will be held on 18th June at the Kennington Oval in London. Meanwhile, the warm-up fixtures of the tournament have also been announced and it will be telecasted live on the Star Sports Network.

The first warm-up match will be played between Australia and Sri Lanka on 26th May at the Kennington Oval followed by Bangladesh Pakistan the next day. India will play their first warm-up game against the Kiwis on 28th followed by Australia-Pakistan and New Zealand-Sri Lanka for the rest couple of days. The final group match will be played between India and Bangladesh at the Kennington Oval.

The Indian squad had to leave out Manish Pandey at the last moment due to a left strain which he sustained during the IPL. His replacement Dinesh Karthik will look to make full use of the lifeline he got for yet another time. Even in the last Champions Trophy, he made a comeback and smashed two sensational centuries in the warm-up clashes against Sri Lanka and Australia but couldn’t quite live up to his potential in the main tournament.

Meanwhile, the Men in Blue will look to come all guns blazing to defend their title and just like their previous campaign, India will look to end the campaign without a single defeat which was the case in 2013. India won all the 7 matches including a couple of warm-up matches and lifted the coveted title after defeating England by 5 runs in the final.

Teams like England and South Africa might be the pre-tournament favourites but given the variety, India has in their bowling line-up presently it will be a difficult task for all the other teams to stop India from retaining their title. The squad is loaded with superstars and they will look to defend their title.

2⃣warm-up games, 2⃣tons: @DineshKarthik was in fine form last time around! Watch him in @ICC #CT17 in #INDvNZ warm-up, LIVE on Star Sports! pic.twitter.com/hYy2jl8ObD

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) May 20, 2017