Virat Kohli didn’t join the squad on Monday after taking a day’s break to be with his family in Mumbai. He, however, is expected to be available for Tuesday’s practice match against the Netherlands in Thiruvananthapuram.
Kohli had left for Mumbai from Guwahati after taking permission from the team management.
This will be India’s final practice match before their World Cup opener against Australia in Chennai on October 8. The first practice tie in Guwahati was washed out because of rain and the forecast isn’t very encouraging for Thiruvananthapuram too.
There is chance of intermittent showers on Tuesday and a truncated contest cannot be ruled out.
The team had a practice session at the St. Xavier’s College ground in nearby Thumba. It was an optional session but most members of the squad — barring captain Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer and Mohammed Shami — had an intense net session.
The Indians spent most of the session batting against the local spinners. Even Ravichandran Ashwin batted with the likes of Shubman Gill and KL Rahul. Only Jasprit Bumrah is learnt to have had a long bowling stint.
Monday’s warm-up matches were decided by the DLS method. New Zealand beat South Africa by seven runs while England won by four wickets against Bangladesh.
