Washington Sundar, Avesh Khan interestingly represent County XI for warm-up game against India

India is currently up against a Select County XI in their three-day warm-up fixture at Chester-le-Street. The match, accorded first-class status, has been arranged by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) as a precursor to India’s five-Test series against England that gets underway from August 4 in Nottingham.

The visiting team arrived in the United Kingdom on June 3, before undergoing a mandatory quarantine and taking part in an intra-squad match simulation to prepare for the World Test Championship final, which India lost against New Zealand in Southampton. Following that, India enjoyed a three-week break with far fewer restrictions owing to eased out policies of the UK government.

After India’s WTC final loss, a large section of experts believed that it was a lack of match practice and failure to acclimatize with the English conditions that led to the team’s downfall. To ensure better practice for the team before the high-stake England series, which earmarks the start of the second cycle of WTC, the BCCI had sent in a late request to the ECB to arrange more than just intra-squad games, which eventually materialized into the arrangement of a three-day encounter at Durham.

Avesh Khan, Washington Sundar part of County XI

ECB had announced a 14-member squad, with Warwickshire’s Will Rhodes named as the captain. However, on the match-day, Indian pacer Avesh Khan and spinner Washington Sundar have been included in the County XI too.

Meanwhile, the Indian team is without Virat Kohli, with Rohit Sharma leading the side. With Shubman Gill ruled out of the series owing to a leg injury, Mayank Agarwal has been slotted in as the opener alongside Sharma for the warm-up game, while KL Rahul is the wicketkeeper. Notably, Rishabh Pant, who recovered from a bout of Covid-19, is not yet in Durham with the squad, while Wriddhiman Saha, the other keeper option for India, is currently in quarantine after being deemed a close contact of Pant.

India XI: Rohit Sharma (C), Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, KL Rahul (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami.

County XI: Haseeb Hameed, Jack Libby, Robert Yates, Washington Sundar, Will Rhodes (C), Lyndon James, James Rew, James Patterson-White, Jack Carson, Craig Miles, Avesh Khan