A lot of Indian fans were in a state of confusion when Avesh Khan was seen bowling to the Indian openers Mayank Agarwal and Rohit Sharma in India’s tour match against County Select XI in Durham on Tuesday. The match which is being streamed on Durham Cricket’s official YouTube channel, saw the youngster share the new ball with Warwickshire’s Craig Miles.
The commentators soon confirmed that Khan and Washington Sundar are playing for County Select XI in the match and were up against their own teammates during teh three-day practice match. They also shared that the duo will head to the Indian dressing room during the match. However, the Madhya Pradesh pacer wasn’t looking in a good shape and rhythm in his starting spell. He sprayed it all over the pitch, with Mayank Agarwal punishing him with 4 boundaries from the first 3 overs from him.
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The reason why Khan and Sundar are playing for County Select XI:
According to the commentators, Avesh Khan and Washington Sundar had to feature for County Select XI because of “multiple reasons”. One of the 14 players in County XI squad came in close contact of a Covid-positive person, while another had suffered an injury.
On the other hand, Team India also paid tribute to the late former cricketer Yashpal Sharma by wearing black armbands during their warm-up match.
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Tweeting about the same, BCCI wrote: “#TeamIndia are sporting black armbands to mourn the sad demise of former India cricketer Yashpal Sharma ji, who sadly passed away on 13th July after a cardiac arrest. Head Coach @RaviShastriOfc was his teammate in the 1983 World Cup winning squad.”
#TeamIndia are sporting black armbands to mourn the sad demise of former India cricketer Yashpal Sharma ji, who sadly passed away on 13th July after a cardiac arrest. Head Coach @RaviShastriOfc was his teammate in the 1983 World Cup winning squad. pic.twitter.com/A72aZ258aT
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 20, 2021
Here is how the fans reacted to the same:
Avesh Khan is bowling for County XI against the Indians 😆
Two Indian Teams are playing at the same time 🤩#EngvsInd #Durham #AveshKhan #RohitSharma pic.twitter.com/apvVYPzajQ— Kathiravan (@Kathir184507) July 20, 2021
Avesh Khan is playing for county 11 in Indian (byjus) jersey😶🤭#INDvSL #IndVcounty11 pic.twitter.com/qphUosVscx
— Abhishek Goswami (@Abhishe89301652) July 20, 2021
By the way we are playing with our 13 players as avesh khan and Washington playing in opposition
— J A Y E S H (@imjayeshv) July 20, 2021
@bhogleharsha can anyone tell me why Avesh khan is bowling against India.
Why is he in opposition team in today's practice match??— Akshat Singh (@AkshatTaman) July 20, 2021
Avesh khan is bowling john pic.twitter.com/w68aMvFa5y
— Er Rohit panwar (@the_great_rohit) July 20, 2021
India seeing Avesh Khan and Sundar playing for County 11 #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/v4E9vb5Oua
— Hemant Kumar (@SportsCuppa) July 20, 2021
India won the toss and elected to bat first in the match. With Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane being rested, Rohit Sharma is leading the team consisting of Mayank Agarwal, Chesteshwar Puajra, Hanuma Vihari, KL Rahul (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Siraj.
