Abhitesh
Team India are all ready for their second and final warm-up match for the 2023 ODI World Cup, following a rain-interrupted warm-up match against defending champions England in Guwahati on Saturday. The game was called off without a ball being bowled. At the Greenfield Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram, the Men in Blue will face the Netherlands, who qualified for their fifth World Cup appearance after finishing second behind Sri Lanka in the Qualifiers. However, the erstwhile India captain Virat Kohli may not be available for the match
Sunday evening, according to a report by Cricbuzz, Team India flew from Guwahati to Thiruvananthapuram, a four-hour voyage, on a special aircraft, but Kohli did not travel with the team. The veteran No. 3 batter flew back to Mumbai from Guwahati after requesting a leave of absence due to a personal emergency.
According to the report, Kohli will join the Indian team in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday evening.
In spite of India’s hopes for a cricket match in their final warm-up game on Tuesday, the weather in Thiruvananthapuram indicates otherwise. Tuesday will be cloudy with a couple of showers and a thunderstorm, according to the Accuweather forecast. There is a 96% chance of precipitation and a 46% chance of thunderstorms. So far, three warm-up ties have been affected due to rain, two of which were played at Thiruvananthapuram – while the South Africa-Afghanistan match was wiped out, Australia-Netherlands tie was reduced to a 23-overs contest before being called off.
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While it may not come as much of a surprise that India’s second warm-up game may suffer a similar fate, captain Rohit Sharma is likely to remain undeterred, as he has referred to these games as mere “formality” for Team India, who have been extremely active in preparation for the World Cup. India claimed the Asia Cup two weeks ago and defeated Australia in a three-match home series last week.
India will open their World Cup campaign against Australia in Chennai on October 8.
