Team India has arrived in Colombo, Sri Lanka today (August 30) in order to kickstart their Asia Cup 2023 campaign. Men in Blue reached the island nation’s capital around 1.30 PM IST. Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and other members of team participated in a week long camp in Alur ahead of the mega continental event.
Notably, all of Team India squad has reached for the Kandy leg of Sri Lanka tour, barring KL Rahul. The star wicketkeeper-batter will stay in Bengaluru at NCA. He will participate in match simulations and hence will miss on India’s two opening clashes i.e India vs Pakistan (IND vs PAK) and India vs Nepal (IND vs NEP).
At the pre-departure news conference, Dravid stated, “KL has had a good week with us, playing well and progressing really well, but he will be unavailable for the first part for the Kandy leg of the trip.”
“While we are on the road for the next three days, the NCA will take care of him. On September 4th, we will reevaluate, and we’ll proceed from there. However, things are going well. For the first two games, he won’t be available, Dravid continued.
Asia Cup 2023: Shreyas Iyer fit and ready to go
Shreyas Iyer, the batter, is healthy and “ticked all the boxes” during the practice session, according to Dravid.
“Shreyas Iyer checked off every box during practice. In the Asia Cup, we’ll give him playing time, Dravid promised.
On Wednesday in Multan, the co-hosts Pakistan and Nepal will meet in the opening game of the Asia Cup. On September 2 in Kandy, Team India will face off against bitter rival Pakistan.
Road to ODI World Cup 2023
The Asia Cup, which gets today, is likely the penultimate opportunity for five of the six countries that will also participate in the ODI World Cup 2023 to finalize their final 15, if not starting XI, for the quadrennial extravaganza.
While Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka have recently played some ODI cricket, India is the team that is least prepared for the 50-over format.
Importantly, India must test a handful of their most vital positions in a competition where they might end up facing Pakistan three times in as many weeks.
Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma won’t want to deal with a backlash so soon to the World Cup, even if the team management wants to use the Asia Cup as a testing ground.
