Picture Credit: Twitter/@BCCI
Prior to India's white-ball series against Sri Lanka, the Shikhar Dhawan-led squad is gearing up for the series by featuring in a few intra-squad matches. While the team arrived in the island country with some time in their hands, after completing their mandatory quarantine, the players have started to train and are featuring in these games to get themselves match-ready prior to the first ODI on July 13.
A picture of the scoreboard from India's recent intra squad game has now emerged which shows the Indian team divided into two teams - India A and India B. While Team A features the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw and Nitish Rana, the Team B comprised of players like Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav and others.
Dhawan departs for a duck
The scoreboard showed that Team B has scored 248 in 45 overs with the likes of Hardik Pandya (79) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (75) starring with the bat. However, in response Dhawan departed without opening his account but with the help of Prithvi Shaw (84) and Manish Pandey (53), Team A managed 195/4 in 29 overs with the match still continuing.
While Team India will look at the positives from this game, they could be slightly concerned with Dhawan's duck as he is likely to be the most important batter in the side being the experienced of the lot. The three ODI matches are set to be followed by as many T20Is - all of them scheduled to be played at R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo.