India vs England: Conditioning camp for the Indian cricketers called off

The conditioning camp for the Indian cricketers, that was supposed to take place in Bangalore ahead of the limited-overs leg against England, has been called off after few senior cricketers felt there was no need for having it.

Earlier, it was revealed that the members of the Indian team, that will take part in three ODIs and three T20Is against England, will take part in a conditioning camp from the end of next week and was scheduled to last until January 12 before heading to Pune on January 13 and attend the MAK Pataudi lecture, which will be delivered by former Indian cricketer Farokh Engineer.

However, as per the latest developments, the camp has been called off after few senior cricketers including Test skipper Virat Kohli felt it was completely uncalled for. Instead, the team will be having an extended net session in Pune ahead of the first ODI after meeting in the city on January 10.

“The likes of Kohli wanted more rest before the ODI and T20 series against England and that is why the camp was called off. The team will have an extended nets sessions in Pune now,“ a BCCI source said Times of India.

It was also revealed that it was the decision of the coach Anil Kumble to hold a camp as it will be a perfect platform for the players to regroup and get into the groove ahead of the series.

“The team management did weigh the work-load on the cricketers. But there are some like ODI captain MS Dhoni who will have a good opportunity at the camp to get into the groove,“ the source added.

The Indian squad to take on England will be announced in the first week of January (likely to be January 6th) and the Indian selectors led by MSK Prasad will have their task cut out when they sit down to pick the team as most of the first-choice players are ruled out of the series due to injury.

R Ashwin (sports hernia), Rohit Sharma (thigh), Ajinkya Rahane (finger), Hardik Pandya (shoulder), Mohammad Shami (knee), Axar Patel (finger) and Jayant Yadav (hamstring) complete the list of Indian cricketers who are currently nursing injuries. This gives an opportunity to the fringe players like Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Kedar Jadhav etc. to get picked in the squad and prove themselves.

The three-match ODI series between India and England begins on January 15 in Pune and the visitors will play a couple of practice matches before the series.