Before the much-awaited white-ball series against England, the Indian team will be playing against the county teams in warm-up matches to prepare for the fixtures. A second-string Team India is scheduled to be locking horns with Derbyshire and Northamptonshire on July 1 and 3, respectively. The players who took on Ireland in a couple of T20Is recently will face the county teams.
India will be led by a new captain in the fixture as Hardik Pandya will reportedly be rested for the warm-up games. As per Insidesport.in, Dinesh Karthik has been appointed as the captain of the visiting side in the warm-up games. Royal Challengers Bangalore sent their wishes to Karthik, sort of confirming that the senior wicket-keeper batter will be leading the team in the fixtures.
Mr. Finisher Supreme will be leading #TeamIndia in the ✌️ T20 warm-up games against Derbyshire and Northamptonshire. 👊
The first game starts today at 9:30 PM. Let's hear it for our very own @DineshKarthik. 🔊 🙌#PlayBold #WeAreChallengers pic.twitter.com/dCrG5Ame4V
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) July 1, 2022
This will be the first time when Dinesh Karthik will lead India in any format. Since it’s warm-up game, the matches might not be awarded T20 status. After the warm-up matches, the Men in Blue are scheduled to face England in three T20Is and as many ODIs.
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Rohit Sharma will be back to lead the team in the limited-overs series. The veteran opener would have missed the opening T20I had he been fit for the ongoing one-off Test match. Rohit is still COVID-19 positive and will be back on the field once he recovers from the infection.
India’s regular skipper is the only member from the Test team who will play the opening T20I. After the first T20I, the regulars will return and a few players from the squad will be going back home. There was no new face in the T20I side while the selectors handed maiden ODI call-up to Arshdeep Singh. He is yet to make his international debut.
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Three T20Is are scheduled to be played on July 7, 9 and 10 while the ODIs will take place on July 12, 14 and 17. After the England series, the Men in Blue will leave for West Indies for 3 ODIs and 5 T20Is.