Courtesy: BCCI
After landing in Dubai, the UAE, to kick-start their ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign on Saturday, February 15, the Indian cricket team led by Rohit Sharma got down to business the next day at the ICC Cricket Academy. During the first practice session, all the Indian players sweated it out on the field aiming to fine tune themselves ahead of the coveted ICC tournament, which will begin on February 19, with Arshdeep Singh taking a hilarious jibe at Harshit Rana for his English.
Notably, the Indian cricket team are scheduled to play their opening match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Thursday, February 20, against Bangladesh in Group A. Following that, in three days’ time, they will be facing their arch-rivals Pakistan before the focus will shift on New Zealand on March 2 in yet another weekend clash.
Indian players were in fine spirits in practice session
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) shared a video of the yesterday’s practice session of the Indian cricket team on their official Instagram account this morning, wherein the players looked and sounded in fine spirits ahead of the tournament. Arshdeep Singh was tasked to do the intro for the video, which he did in his own languid style, but when Harshit Rana tried to chip-in, he had no hesitation in calling out the Indian pacer for his way of speaking the foreign language, saying, “English finished for one month”, to which Rishabh Pant laughed alongside him.
Watch the video here:
Former Indian captain Virat Kohli struck a few crisp strokes in the nets while guiding Shubman Gill, while he also enjoyed a bit of fielding alongside some of his teammates. Moreover, there were some reports of Rishabh Pant getting hit on the knee during the practice session, but the BCCI hasn’t sent out an official update on his condition.
All in all, it was quite a good day of practice for the Indian players ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, but the pressure will be firmly on, when they take the field in three days’ time.
