Team India will play a warm-up game against Durham’s select county championship XI ahead of the five-match Test series against England. The Emirates Riverside ground in Durham will host the game, which starts on July 20 (Tuesday).
After a heavy defeat against New Zealand in the WTC final in Southampton, the BCCI had requested ECB to stage a couple of warm-up matches before the Test series which kicks off on August 4 in Nottingham.
ECB responded to the request and India will now lock horns with Durham’s select County Championship XI. The match will be played strictly behind closed doors. The game will be streamed live via the Durham Cricket Youtube channel.
Durham County Cricket Club announced the details about their involvement in helping the touring Indian team for their series against England. They announced the details in a press release on Wednesday.
Emirates Riverside will host a County Championship XI v India in a three-day behind closed doors warm up game starting on Tuesday.
This game will be available to watch via Durham Cricket youtube.#ForTheNorth #TeamIndia #IndiaCricket
— Durham Cricket (@DurhamCricket) July 14, 2021
“Durham Cricket are delighted to announce that Emirates Riverside will host India against a County Championship XI as the tourists prepare for their test series against England later this summer,” Durham’s release informed.
“The world number two test side will use Emirates Riverside as a home venue for their preparations this summer and will get underway with a three-day game against a county select on Tuesday 20 July at 11 am,” the release further stated.
Team India cricketer Rishabh Pant tests COVID positive
Hours after reports claimed the two Indian cricketers have tested positive for COVID-19, it has been reported that Rishabh Pant is the one who is infected by the deadly virus on July 14 (Wednesday).
Rishabh Pant was spotted attending Euro 2020 game at the Wembley Stadium in England during the 20-day break granted by BCCI to the Indian cricketers after the WTC defeat. Initially, the management was tight-lipped with the cricketer’s name but a report in PTI has quoted a BCCI official saying that the player in question is Pant.
Seems watching Match in Wembley and clicking pics with fans without mask got him @RishabhPant17 … according to sources pant is covid positive…hope pant recovers well in time for the 1st test @indiatvnews
— Samip Rajguru (@samiprajguru) July 15, 2021
“He (Pant) is in quarantine at an acquaintance’s place and won’t be travelling with the team to Durham on Thursday,” a BCCI source said.
The report further stated that he has been possibly afflicted by the Delta variant, leading to a rising number of cases in England.