Indians sweat it out Focus on Sharma, Kohli as top Indian batters hit nets ahead of first ODI vs England to be played on Feb 6
   Date :04-Feb-2025

Kohli as top Indian batters hit nets
 
By Anupam Soni :
 
HAVING retired from the shortest format, and woefully out of form in the red-ball format, India’s superstar batters skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli took the first available opportunity to hit the ground and hone their skills. After India’s triumph in the Twenty20 World Cup last year, Sharma and Kohli, along with Ravindra Jadeja had hung their jerseys and thus were not part of the Indian squad that hammered England 4-1 in the just-concluded five-match series. Their last international assignment was Australia tour where both fared badly with the willow in the longest format with Kohli losing form after that century in the tour opener in Perth. With ever growing hue and cry from former players, experts and media for Indian players (seniors, oops stars) to play domestic cricket, both joined their respective sides for one Ranji Trophy game. Except for attracting fans to the tunes of a few thousands to the ground, their bats stayed dried and did not produce anything.
 

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Now, with Champions Trophy on the horizon, they have got yet another chance to redeem themselves in the three-match One-Day series against England starting with the first one at VCA’s Jamtha Stadium in Nagpur on February 6. They say, practice makes a man perfect. And that is the only thing the duo could have done. Sharma and Kohli, who was the first one to enter the nets arena of Jamtha on a rather hot Monday afternoon, took guards playing a battery of Vidarbha youngsters with different skill-sets. Sharma was the only player who came down (from the pavilion on first floor) for the nets with his pads on. Batting ready! The bowlers bowled their hearts out in an effort to impress the India players and on few occasions even managed to beat them. All the other players — vice-captain Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant, who had landed in the city on Sunday, took their position in the nets. Incidentally, these players form core of the batting unit that will take on England in the One-Dayers. None of them was part of the T20 squad led by Suryakumar Yadav. These players will be joined by rest of team members, who arrived Monday evening, for two more practise sessions before they take on England on Thursday. 
 

nagpur publics 
 
Kohli arrives King style
 
WITH Sun shining brightly, the only window curtains of the Purple Bus that were open belonged to the front seat occupied by none other than King Kohli. It is not known whether the curtains were open throughout the journey from hotel to Jamtha Stadium or Kohli slid those as the bus entered the venue just to show handful of sports reporters and photojournalists his style and attitude. ‘Trying our best to have a jam-free match day’ With three days to go for the match, city cops have much time on hand to plan things well in advance. Young DCP (Traffic) Archit Chandak, said that the police department has some new plans for ensuring congestion-free traffic on the matchday. “We are trying our best to have a jam-free matchday. We have a couple of new ideas to do it this time. Hope those work,” he said after briefing a BCCI Security Officer over security measures in place in and around the stadium. 
 
Engand team, rest of Indian players arrive
 
The remaining Indian crickerers and entire England squad, led by Jos Buttler, arrived in Nagpur for the first ODI, to be held on Thursday. Star cricketers captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja, who were not part of the T20 squad, reached Nagpur on Sunday night. India and England teams reached Orange City by a chartered flight after playing their fifth T20I at Mumbai on Sunday. 
 
Redeeming of tickets begin at Civil Lines
 
The enthusiasm and happiness were written large on their faces as soon as they got hold of their prized tickets. The redeeming of tickets for the India-England first One-Day International at Jamtha Stadium on coming Thursday started at VCA Civil Lines on Monday morning. Those lucky ones, who managed to book tickets online the previous day, wasted no time to redeem their tickets. There was a huge bee-line at VCA Civil Lines stadium from early Monday morning as fans waited eagerly to get hold of their tickets. The match is a sold-out with tickets booked within hours on Sunday morning. Redeeming will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday at VCA Civil Lines.