Ahead of the three-match One-Day International (ODI) series against Afghanistan, the Indian team assembled at the IS Bindra PCA Stadium in Mohali on Wednesday and attended a practice session before travelling to Dharamsala.
Alongside Rohit Sharma, newly appointed T20 skipper Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan attended the practice session.
Sharma, who cleared the fitness test in Bengaluru, spent a good amount of time in the nets. He was seen talking to Yashasvi Jaiswal, Kishan, and strength and conditioning coach Adrian Le Roux before facing bowlers Gurnoor Brar, Prince Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harsh Dubey. The side was also joined by Mohali lad Arshdeep Singh, who also bowled to Sharma and other.
The practice session was expected to be joined by Hardik Pandya but he had been ruled out of the series owing to a new injury.
While the Wednesday session was optional, most players attended it, barring Shubham Gill and Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna and others.
Coming after a hamstring niggle, Sharma looked quite comfortable in the nets.
He took the bowlers in his usual style marking flick shots, sweeps and pulls.
Kishan stayed alongside him through the drill, and for almost an hour, he alternated between the pacers and spinners.
Against an off-break net bowler, Sharma launched a succession of straight sixes, anticipating something like the same from the Afghan bowlers in the next three games. All eyes will be glued to Sharma in coming days as his aim of playing the 2027 ODI World Cup relies on such ODI matches and it will be a great practice for him considering his selection for the future ODI events.
Before Pandya, India’s star batter Virat Kohli was forced out of the series owing to a hamstring injury. The BCCI replaced him with southpaw Yashasvi Jaiswal.
The series is set to start on June 13 at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) Stadium in Dharamsala, followed by second ODI in Lucknow on June 17 and third on June 20 in Chennai.
Thereafter, the Indian team is scheduled to play ODI series against England in July.
