ICC Champions Trophy kickstarts after a couple of days with the warm-up matches where top teams will lock horns before shifting to the main arena.
In the main competition, India is placed in Group B alongside South Africa, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The team that finishes in the top two will qualify for the semifinal where they will take on the top two teams from Group A which features Australia, England, New Zealand and Bangladesh.
Australia is one of the favourites for the prestigious 50-over tournament in the UK and most of the squad had their first serious hit-out of the tour on Monday (May 22) in London.
As the England pitch has always favoured pace, so Australia made a shrewd decision by selecting the handful from their rich resource of fast bowlers Australia start off their campaign with their practice matches against Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Josh Hazlewood, the Australian paceman, believes competition for spots amid Australia’s talent-laden squad will be fierce in the tournament.
“Obviously over the last 6-12 months there’s been a few people rested from different tours and we’ve had injuries as well,” he told reporters in London on Monday. “That’s just the way the schedule is. Every player of the 15 puts a good case forward when you look at it on paper so it’s going to be tough work for the selectors.”
Australia is looking forward to their top notch pace bowling with the presence of Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and James Pattinson.
“We’ve grown up playing against each other in different tournaments … so it’s great to have us all here together and bowling well,” Hazlewood said of his pace comrades.
“(Starc and I) have been playing the majority of the past two or three years together and we’ve been doing really well. But the other two are unbelievable bowlers in their own right so it’s going to be a tough gig for the selectors for that first game.”
“We’ve obviously got a couple of warm-up games and a bit more training to go so we’ll enjoy the next week leading in,” he added.