India vs England Warm-Up Match Highlights: IND captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first against ENG. However, rain has delayed the start of play.
India take on defending champions England in their first warm-up match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 which will be played at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati today.
The two-time former champions will play their second warm-up game against the Netherlands at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram on October 3, before opening their campaign against Australia on October 8.
The side comes on the back of winning the Asia Cup and winning the ODI series against Australia 2-1. “In all these matches, all the boxes were ticked, which means the Indian team will go into the World Cup full of confidence. It’s a very good thing as walking into a multi-nation tournament, you do require confidence and belief amongst each other, of making the team win from any tough situation,” said Dinesh Karthik.
“India are right now in the belief that anyone can be a match-winner on a given day. It’s a good thing to have as in the last seven-eight matches, Siraj has been a Player of the Match, as well as Siraj and Bumrah have been doing well. It’s a phenomenal achievement as India will walk into the first match at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai to do something special. For now, the questions which were there a month ago, 90% of them have been answered,” he added.
Karthik, who was a member of India’s 2007 and 2019 ODI World Cup squads, thinks defending champions England and Pakistan will pose huge threats for the Indian team. “For me, the threat for the Indian team will come from England – because they are a very good and powerful team, plus they have been playing good and positive cricket for last seven-eight years.”
“It’s in their DNA now to play positive cricket and now possess a blockbuster batting line-up. Plus, their batting line-up is very deep, as they literally bat till the last position. A depth like that isn’t there in any team.”
“Another team to be wary of is Pakistan because they have good fast bowlers and the match against them will be a very emotional one as Indian fans will want to have the team have a great game against them. Plus, it will be a pressure-filled game, so it will be very interesting to see how that game shapes up.”
Karthik also opined that middle-order batter Sanju Samson, who missed the bus for the World Cup as KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer recovered from their injuries in time, is capable of achieving special things in international cricket, and has to be backed constantly.
“Sanju Samson is at a stage where he’s very close to the Indian team and there’s no doubting that. They were looking at him playing in the World Cup, till the Asian Games squad was announced. Then they couldn’t make any changes in that team, so were unable to add him.”
“He’s a gun player, has lots of talent and captained Rajasthan Royals very well too. I expect good things from him and he needs to be backed, plus be given positive energies that he gets from all over India. He will achieve and do special things in international cricket.”
