Indian team on Saturday began outdoor training while gearing up for challenging Australia tour with a light session after the entire contingent tested negative for COVID-19.
Several cricketers who recently competed in the Indian Premier League in the UAE, including Mumbai Indians Hardik Pandya, Delhi Capitals Prithvi Shaw and Bangalore’s Mohammed Siraj, attended the session at Blacktown International Sports Park inside the Sydney Olympic Park. The BCCI posted pictures of the outdoor training and a gym session on its Twitter handle.
Indian Team Begins Outdoor Training
Indian team began outdoor training after all of them tested negative. The tour will consist of 3 ODIs,3 T20Is and 4 Tests. India had won previous Test series which was their maiden one last time they toured Australia in 2018-2019. IPL ended on November 10, and the team flew to Australia from Dubai amidst stringent rules involving biosecure bubbles which have become mandatory in the Covid-19 era.
Once out, the boys also hit the gym!? pic.twitter.com/X3QL3uHQJy
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 14, 2020
Spinner Kuldeep Yadav, pacer Umesh Yadav, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, pacer Shardul Thakur and Test batting mainstay Cheteshwar Pujara were seen warming up.
India’s newest pace sensation, T Natarajan, and Deepak Chahar were also seen in the pictures. Yorker specialist pacer T Natarajan replaced uncapped spinner Varun Chakravarthy in T20I squad after the latter was ruled out due to injury.
Indian Team Serving 14 Day Quarantine Period In Australia
The Indian team is currently serving a 14-day quarantine period, and members have cleared the initial COVID-19 test successfully, according to information received.
Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal also posted a picture from his Twitter handle with fellow spinner Kuldeep Yadav.
Back with my brother @imkuldeep18 and back on national duty for ??#TeamIndia ? #spintwins #kulcha pic.twitter.com/NmWmccaEXt
— Yuzvendra Chahal (@yuzi_chahal) November 14, 2020
Team India is scheduled to play three ODIs, as many T20Is and a four-Test series on tour, starting with T20Is from November 27. The Test series will begin with a Day-Night encounter with pink balls at Adelaide from December 17.
Skipper Virat Kohli will miss the last three matches as he will be on paternity during that time to attend the birth of a first child while unfit Rohit Sharma was added latter to test squad after a successful recovery from a hamstring injury.