Picture Credit: Twitter
Team India is gearing up for the highly anticipated clash against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 23 in Melbourne which will also be their first match in the T20 World Cup 2022. While India's batting looks extremely solid with the presence of legends like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik and others, the bowling department dealt a major blow ahead of the ICC tournament.
Men in Blue are in Australia without the services of their pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah as the star pacer had incurred a back injury. Bumrah's unavailability from the World Cup squad made way for another prolific pacer Mohammed Shami in the squad as the latter was named Bumrah's replacement in the squad. The 32-year-old right-arm speedster has joined India's camp in Brisbane and was spotted sweating out with his mates during a net session on October 16 (Sunday).
Team India will take on defending champion Australia in their first warm-up game and ahead of that, players were seen honing their skills in the practice session. As per the video going the rounds on social media, Shami along with Harshal Patel and Yuzvendra Chahl were spotted bowling to veteran finisher Dinesh Karthik in the nets. While Dinesh Karthik played a couple of cracking shots to Mohammad Shami and Harshal Patel, one of Shami's delivery beat Karthik's bat and went on to rattle the stumps.
Notably, India have already played two warm-up matches upon arrival in Australia, both against Western Australia. They won the first game but lost the second. India will now face Australia and New Zealand in their two official warm-up matches before the big game against Pakistan.