ENG vs IND | R Ashwin joins Indian squad after recovering from Covid

Champion Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin joined the Rohit Sharma-led contingent in Leicester ahead of Team India's practice game on Thursday.

Ashwin did not travel with the squad last week due to Covid-19. The off-spinner completed all the protocols mandated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) before taking the fight to the United Kingdom (UK).

The BCCI shared the pictures from the training session with Indian players ahead of the opening day of the four-day fixture against Leicestershire.

Notably, a majority of the Indian squad, including former skipper and legendary batter Virat Kohli, left for England on July 16, while skipper Rohit and a few other members travelled a day later.

Swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer left for England on June 19 following the culmination of the 5-match T20I series against South Africa.

Meanwhile, Team India have got off to a disastrous start to their warm-up fixture as they lost half of their batting unit at the score of 90 at the end of the first session.

Batting first, the visitors got off to a good start with Rohit (25 off 47 deliveries) and Shubman Gill (21 off 28 deliveries), who is opening the innings in the absence of injured KL Rahul, added 35 runs in the first 10 overs.

While Jasprit Bumrah bowled five harmless overs for 20, his partner, Will Davis, broke the stand by dismissing the dangerous-looking Gill.

The wicket of Gill triggered a massive collapse as the Indians lost their next three wickets in a span of 20 runs, with Roman Walker the bulk of the damage.

Prasidh Krishna bowled a devastating spell to Shreyas Iyer, eventually dismissing him for an 11-ball duck.

At the time of writing, Virat (21*) and KS Bharat (11*) are at the crease, with India stationed at 118/5.