Team India will assemble in Bengaluru today evening for the Asia Cup preparatory camp which gets underway in Alur on August 25. News18 CricketNext has reliably learnt that the Asia Cup-bound players, currently in Ireland, will sync up with the squad on August 25 only.
“The available players will be reaching Bengaluru by today (August 23) evening for the camp in Alur. Players in Ireland – namely Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma – will be leaving tomorrow. They are likely to first go to their home city and then join the camp in Alur on August 25,” a senior BCCI official tells CricketNext.
India will play the last T20I against Ireland on August 23 and the entire squad will leave for India on August 24.
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Apart from the complete Asia Cup squad, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has summoned 14 net bowlers for the five-day skill-based camp. The idea of having a jumbo contingent of net bowlers is to not exhaust the bowling resources and ensure quality nets and sessions for the batters.
“In addition to the Asia Cup squad, 14 net bowlers will be part of the Asia Cup preparatory camp. The idea is to ensure intensity and quality of net sessions is right up there and it doesn’t burn out the bowling resources,” adds the official.
India’s entire coaching staff, led by former captain Rahul Dravid, will be in attendance and the camp will also be attended by the Ajit Agarkar-led men’s senior selection committee. As of now, National Cricket Academy (NCA) head VVS Laxman will not be part of the preparations.
“Rahul Dravid will be there, so will be other members of the coaching staff – batting coach Vikram Rathour, bowling coach Paras Mhambrey and fielding coach T Dilip. All the selectors too will be overseeing proceedings in Alur,” says the official.
The Rahul Dravid-led coaching staff was given a break for the ongoing T20I series in Ireland and will resume work with the Asia Cup camp before focus shifts to the tournament, the ODI series at home vs Australia and then the World Cup later this year.
After a long time, India will have a preparatory camp and Rohit Sharma, at the media briefing after Asia Cup squad announcement, talked about it and the opportunity it presents.
“There is 5-day camp in Bengaluru. After a long time, we have had the opportunity to get all the players in for some skill-based training. We can rectify our weakness,” said Rohit in New Delhi.
All eyes on players returning from injury
The lot returning from injury, especially KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer since they haven’t played any competitive cricket for a long time, will be in focus during the preparatory camp. While it’s still not clear how much of a part Rahul will play in this because he picked up a niggle but Iyer, as chairman of selector Ajit Agarkar confirmed, is completely fit and has already played three 50-over matches at the NCA.
The right-hander thanked the men who helped him return to action in an emotional post on social media this afternoon.
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“Been a long journey but I’m super grateful to the people who stood by my side to help me to get where I am today. Thank you Nitin bhai (Nitin Patel) and Rajini sir (Rajnikanth Sivagnanam) and everyone at The NCA, who’ve been tirelessly helping me. Much love and much appreciated ????,” wrote Iyer with a picture featuring both Patel and Rajini.
The successful return of Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna has eased a lot of India’s problems ahead of the two major white-ball assignments and the management would now hope that their core squad remains injury free.
Rohit Sharma spotted at airport, Hardik Pandya reaches Bengaluru
Video of Rohit Sharma at the airport is dominating social media timelines where the Indian captain was spotted outside the airport. A photographer told Rohit that “Asia Cup ka wait rahega”. Rohit’s reply has gone viral on social media.
“Rohit sir, Asia Cup ka wait rahega (Rohit sir, we will be waiting for the Asia Cup),” said the photographer. “Jeetenge (We will win),” replied Rohit, assuring the Indian fans.
Meanwhile, Pandya too has reached Bengaluru and the Indian vice-captain himself shared the update with fans on social media.
India begin their Asia Cup campaign against Pakistan on September 2.
Asia Cup squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (VC), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.
Travelling stand-by player: Sanju Samson
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