Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma skip optional practice session before IND vs PAK Asia Cup 2023 Super Four match - Reports

Virat Kohli scored 4, while Rohit Sharma scored 11 against Pakistan in Group A match of Asia Cup 2023.

Cricket fans are in anticipation of cricket’s greatest clash between two Asian giants, India and Pakistan. Both the teams are sweating hard for the upcoming high-voltage game scheduled on Saturday. According to reports from Colombo’s R Premadasa Cricket Stadium, Indian captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have skipped an optional practice session. The top-order struggled against Pakistan in their previous encounter as captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were back in the hut earlier than expected. Shaheen Afridi castled both of India’s premier ODI batters. 

Virat and Rohit skipped training

Team India had a scheduled optional practice session in Colombo on Saturday but these two-star batters didn’t join the team for the optional session. Similarly, Virat and Rohit skipped another session 2 days ago in Colombo. Most of the squad members are toiling hard to get themselves ready for the big clash. Jasprit Bumrah has also joined the Indian camp in Colombo and is set to make his comeback. Mohammed Shami went wicketless against Nepal and is expected to be replaced by Jasprit Bumrah in the playing XI. 

Team management will be making one more big decision as KL Rahul is also set to make his comeback in the ODI team. In his absence, Ishan Kishan played a magnificent knock against Pakistan to take India out of the crisis in Kandy. Kishan scored 82 runs in 81 balls and added 138 runs for the 5th wicket along with Hardik Pandya. Management will take a final call on whether they give Ishan Kishan an extended run or give KL Rahul some game time before the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in India. 

Team India had a poor batting performance apart from one big partnership between Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya (87) in their previous encounter against Pakistan. Shaheen Afridi castled Rohit and Virat early in the innings. India need to prepare a plan to tackle Shaheen Afridi, in the previous three encounters, Shaheen has done a splendid job as a left-arm pacer against India. He picked up 4 wickets in the game to help his team restrict India to 266 runs in Kandy.