‘India’s First Warm-up Game Washed-out, Second Match..’: Aakash Chopra Says IND vs AUS Series was More Valuable – News18

Persistent rain on Saturday washed out the World Cup warm-up match between India and England at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. It began raining a little before the start of the match on Saturday afternoon, which resulted in the toss being delayed but later in the evening the umpires decided to abandon the contest, a little before 6pm local time owing to inclement weather.

Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra took to social media to suggest that given that ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 warm-up games are being washed out, the India-Australia three-match ODI series might prove to be crucial.

“India’s first warmup game washed-out in Guwahati. Second game against Netherlands is in Thiruvananthapuram…which, by the way, is getting a fair amount of rain too. Well…suddenly, it seems that the #IndvAus series was more valuable than both teams considered it to be’ he posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

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India, who travelled all the way to Guwahati on Thursday after completing a 2-1 series win over Australia, will now fly to Thiruvananthapuram for their second warm-up match against the Netherlands on October 3.

England, who arrived in India a day before their first warm-up match, will remain in Guwahati to play their second and final warm-up game against Bangladesh on October 2.

The warm-up matches began on Friday with Sri Lanka suffering a seven-wicket defeat at the hands of Bangladesh here, while New Zealand defeated Pakistan in a high-scoring contest in Hyderabad.

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All 10 teams will get to play two warm-up matches each before the group stage of the 50-over World Cup which gets underway in Ahmedabad on October 5.

The warm-up matches are being played at three venues Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram and Hyderabad.

(With inputs from Agencies)