Team India organized an intra-squad match to be batten down for the competitive series against Australia. The match was a 40-over-a-side encounter, with the Virat Kohli-led CK Nayudu XI beat KL Rahul’s Ranjitsinhji XI by 5 wickets. Updates for the match were shared on the team’s official Instagram handle via the stories feature.
Opting to bat first, the Rahul-led side opened the batting with Mayank Agarwal and Shikhar Dhawan. They gave 236 to chase down in 40 overs courtesy of Rahul’s captain knock, scoring 83 off 66 balls.
In reply, Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw opened the batting for the Kohli-led side. The captain scored 91 off 58 balls to chase down the target with 26 balls remaining.
Both batting mainstays KL Rahul and Virat Kohli looked in good form which is positive news for the team. In the absence of Rohit Sharma in limited over the leg, the duo have to be in the up to the scratch to be in a good position.
Virat Kohli absence in Test a big worry for Team India:
Virat Kohli will lead the team until the first Test match of the four-match series which will be the first-ever pink ball Test between India and Australia. He has taken paternity leave to be with his wife Anushka Sharma who is expecting their first child.
With Team India skipper’s absence in the last three Test matches, the onus will be on the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajnkya Rahane, Mayank Agarwal and Rohit Sharam to put up a good score on the boards. Moreover, the visitors will also play for pride to retain last year’s trophy. Many have accused that India won the maiden Test series because of Steve Smith and David Warner’s absence in Australia’s squad. But as they are available to play this year, the Men in Blue would also try to shrug off all the allegations.