Virat Kohli recovers from back pain, sweats it out on centre wicket in Durham

Team India skipper Virat Kohli, who had to skip the three-day first-class match against a Select County XI sweated it out in the nets during the lunch break on the second day. Kohli was seen batting at the centre wicket and trying to get back to his rhythm. He had Washington Sundar by his company who is playing for the County XI in this encounter.

As per reports, both Kohli and vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane were nursing minor niggles and the team management decided not to risk them ahead of a gruelling summer of five Test matches against a strong England side. He was advised to take a rest after he felt stiffness on Monday morning. Both these players are expected to regain full fitness before the start of the opening Test on August 4.

Kohli had two totally contrasting seasons in England in 2014 and 2018. The Indian skipper had struggled all through the 2014 series scoring just 134 runs in 10 innings. He went back to the drawing board and came back in 2018 as a totally different player and went onto finish the series as the leading run-scorer among both sides by quite a fair distance. He smashed a couple of centuries and as many fifties as India went down 1-4 in the five-match series.

India managed to score 311 in the first innings after stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bat. Mayank Agarwal, who is vying to make a comeback in the absence of Shubman Gill played some delightful shots before he perished.

It was a sensational partnership between KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja for the 6th wicket that steadied the ship for India. Rahul, who was batting at No 5 scored a magnificent century before retiring in order to give some much-needed batting practice to the lower order. The Indian pace attack began strongly and have taken three breakthroughs already. When the piece was written, the County XI had lost 3 wickets for 44 runs with Haseeb Hameed and skipper Will Rhodes at the crease.

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Shikhar Dhawan, Yuzvendra Chahal make significant gains in latest ICC ODI rankings

Stand-in Indian limited overs skipper for the tour of Sri Lanka, Shikhar Dhawan has gained two places in the Latest ICC ODI rankings for batsmen after a match-winning knock of 86 in the opening encounter. He has moved to the 16th spot with 712 rating points. Meanwhile, regular Indian skipper Virat Kohli who is currently in England preparing for the five-match Test series to start from the first week of June retained his 2nd position in the rankings, just behind Pakistan skipper Babar Azam. Senior Indian opener Rohit Sharma who is currently leading the Indian team in a three-day first-class match against a Select County XI retained his 3rd spot with 817 points under his belt. While Kohli has 848 rating points, Babar Azam heads the list with 873 rating points. The latest rankings were reflected after the conclusion of the three-match ODI series between Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, the Ireland vs South Africa series and the first two ODIs between Sri Lanka and India. Yuzvendra Chahal had a great time with the ball in the first two ODIs against Sri Lanka and the leggie has gained four places to occupy the 20th spot while Sri Lankan spinner Wanindu Hasaranga jumped 22 places to 36th. Tabraiz Shamsi who is currently the No 1 T20I bowler in the world moved up 8 places to occupy the 39th position. Meanwhile Zimbabwe pacer Blessing Muzarabani had a great time against Bangladesh and moved to the 70th spot, gaining 23 places. Coming to the latest T20I rankings, Pakistan wicket-keeper batsman Mohammad Rizwan had a sensational time with the bat against England scoring 176 runs in three matches. He is currently occupying the 7th position, having gained four places. Meanwhile, Liam Livingstone who scored the fastest century for an Englishman in T20s gained 144 places to occupy the 27th position.

ENG vs IND | Bairstow, Stokes return as England name strong Test team for first two Tests

Wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow is all set to return to the England Test side for the first Test against India scheduled to start on August o4 in Nottingham. Bairstow were to lead the Welsh Fire in The Hundred but the side’s coach Gary Kirsten has said to TalkSport that he is “becoming a Test cricketer again”. “We’re hearing that Jonny Bairstow, who we’ve designated as our captain, is now suddenly becoming a Test cricketer again. So we could have him for maybe one or two games,” Kirsten said. Bairstow would consider himself lucky to be able to return in the longest format after a horrific last series with the bat against India batting at the all-important number three position. He was rested from the first two Tests of the series played in Chennai and his returns in the last two Tests of the series were abysmal. It was feared and speculated that Bairstow will be one of the scapegoats for England’s big defeat in India but the latest developments would give him much-needed relief. If he returns to the squad and then in the playing XI, the all-powerful coach Chris Silverwood, who also oversees the selection of players now, may well look at him as a number three batsman in place of Zak Crawley, who was found wanting agast New Zealand. Or else, he could well come in the squad as a second wicketkeeper other than Buttler after James Bracey’s rather unceremonious introduction to Test cricket. Notably, England have hinted they will continue rotation of their big and multi-format players and it could open a door of opportunity for Bairstow to come into the playing XI at some point during the series against India. The squad could also see the return of Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes and Sam Curran after they missed the last home series against New Zealand last month. Stokes will be coming back after a finger fracture and an ODI series against Pakistan where he led the England side in absence of Eoin Morgan while being in “ridiculous pain”.

Avesh Khan to take no further part in the warm-up game, remains under observation

Standby Indian fast bowler Avesh Khan who surprisingly came out to play for the County Select XI against India in the first-class game ahead of the Test series against England has been ruled out of the rest of the warm-up game and won’t take any further part on Day 2 and Day 3. Given the fact that it was an official first-class game, the County Select XI will be a bowler down for the rest of the match. The host team had requested the Indian team management to allow two of their players to play for the County XI due to the unavailability of some of their players and they readily obliged. Rohit Sharma, the stand-in skipper for India in the warm-up game won the toss and opted to bat and Avesh Khan was handed the new ball with Craig Miles. He was all over the place and didn’t managed to find the perfect line and was smashed for 24 runs in the first three overs as Mayank Agarwal played him beautifully and made full use of his poor lengths. However, he started off his second spell quite well as he finally found the correct channel. It was on the 5th delivery of the 35th over that Avesh Khan had to leave the field owing to a thumb injury. Hanuma Vihari who was looking in good touch drilled a full delivery outside off straight back to the bowler and Avesh Khan instantly knew that he was in trouble. He called for the physio straight away and by the look of things, he had dislocated his left thumb as the physio tried to get that back on place. He was sent for scans are remains under observation. India posted a challenging 311 on the board in the first innings courtesy a sensational century from the blade of KL Rahul who batted at No 5. Along with Ravindra Jadeja, he shared a crucial stand and bailed India out of trouble after they had lost 4 wickets for 107. When the piece was written, the County Select XI had reached 12 in the 5th over without losing any wickets. Haseeb Hameed and JD Libby were at the crease while Jasprit Bumrah and Umesh Yada opened the bowling for the Indians.

We're all emotional: Charith Asalanka after 2nd ODI defeat against India

India’s Deepak Chahar won the match for the side with the bat after the right-hander struck career-best 69* off 82. India won the match by 3 wickets while chasing 276 and took an unassailable 2-0 lead in Colombo. Sri Lanka’s Charith Asalanka expressed his disappointment after the hosts let the match slip away from their hands. "We're all emotional - the team and coaches are all emotional," Asalanka said after the game. "We're a young team. We haven't won much recently, and we're trying to do our best to play together for our country. Everyone tried hard and took it to the final over, but unfortunately we couldn't win,” he added. Talking about the strategy, Asalanka said that Sri Lanka wanted to increase the required rate and put India under pressure. "What we talked about in the 40th over was to push the game deep," Asalanka said. "We wanted to increase their required rate. But they were successful because they didn't lose any wickets.” The visitors were left tottering at 193/7 when Chahar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar stitched an unbeaten stand of 84 runs for the 8th wicket and won the match for the team. Earlier, Suryakumar Yadav who was playing his second ODI for India notched up a fifty while Krunal Pandya chipped in with valuable 35 off 54. The two teams will now play the third and final ODI at the same venue on Friday.