India vs England, World Cup 2023 warm-up: R Ashwin in focus ahead of mega event

With a last-minute change to their squad, India will be looking to sort out their combinations when they take on England and the Netherlands in warm-up matches ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. The first one, against England, is on Saturday and will be played in Guwahati. For India, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was a last-minute addition as Axar Patel was ruled out due to a hamstring injury. And nothing can be a better test for Ashwin and Indian bowlers than world champions England who are loaded with uber-aggressive batters in Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, and reliable operators like Dawid Malan and Ben Stokes. World Cup: How Ashwin's inclusion benefits hosts India in mega event The fact that England bat extremely deep with Sam Curran coming at No 8 and Chris Woakes slotted at No 9 only adds to their depth and quality. An all-out outing against such a formidable batting will give India an idea of the challenges that await them in the World Cup, but there are chances that England may rest most of their top batters given that they reached Guwahati on Friday only after a 38-hour trip from London.

Player in 2015 ➡️ Leading run-scorer in 2019 ➡️ Captain in 2023 🙌

𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗖𝘂𝗽 𝗕𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻𝘀 🏟️

Skipper Rohit Sharma is geared up for #CWC23 😎#TeamIndia | @ImRo45 pic.twitter.com/FX5CPykLLF

— BCCI (@BCCI) September 29, 2023

On the other hand, the warm-up is also an opportunity for India to sort out their batting order. The openers and No 3 are set with Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, and Virat Kohli being the undisputed choices. However, there’s still confusion on whether the management would pick Ishan Kishan to play in the middle order. KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya are also first-choice players which leaves Shreyas Iyer’s No 4 slot as the only spot where Kishan could be slotted in. The inclusion of the youngster would also give India a left-hander option in their lineup. Currently, they only have one left-hander is Ravindra Jadeja at No 7. The warm-ups don’t have ODI status, hence, it’s an opportunity for both the teams to try out as many combinations and players as possible to be in their best shape possible ahead of the World Cup. India vs England match date, timing, venue and LIVE streaming: The match will be played at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Saturday (30 September). The match will start at 2 PM and the toss will take place at 1.30 PM IST. The warm-up match will be broadcast on Star Sports Network channels and live streaming will be available on Disney+ Hotstar. India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav. England squad: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes.