Rain forces Indian cricketers to hit indoor nets ahead of 1st ODI against West Indies

PORT OF SPAIN, Jul 21:  With rain playing spoilsport, the Indian cricket team was forced to train indoors ahead of the first ODI of three-match series against the West Indies here on Friday.

             Led by the veteran Shikhar Dhawan, the Indian bowlers and batters sweated it out at the indoor training facility here as rain lashed parts of Trinidad.

             “As we have just come from the UK, we thought that it would be nice to have an (outdoor) practice session. But it started raining. So, it’s always better to have a knock in the indoor facilities rather than having no session,” opener Shubman Gill said in a video posted by BCCI on twitter.

             “It was a good session as we got to do some specific things like playing underarm balls. I am feeling great and we all are really excited and really buzzed about these three ODIs. We feel that it would be a good series.”

             Dhawan alongwith other batters spent some time at the nets, while young pacer Arshdeep Singh rolled his arms.

             Dhawan had earlier led India to Sri Lanka for an ODI series last year.

             Regular skipper Rohit Sharma, senior batter Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, star all-rounder Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, who led India in the rescheduled fifth Test against England, and Mohammed Shami have all been rested.

             It has opened a window of opportunity for the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan to make their presence felt.

             Squad:

             India: Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Ravindra Jadeja (vice-captain), Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh.  (PTI)