Rohit Sharma will miss warm-up match against New Zealand

Before heading on to the eight edition of the ICC Champions Trophy, defending champions India will play a warm-up match against the Kiwis. India is desperate to be the first team to win the trophy thrice (once shared with Sri Lanka). The game will take place on Sunday. But Men in Blue’s dependable opening batsman Rohit Sharma will not feature in the match.

Team India is sweating out in the training sessions. On Friday, the team trained at Lord’s, while on Saturday they trained at the Oval. But Rohit Sharma was missed in both the sessions. Sharma is the captain of the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) winning team Mumbai Indians. Rohit reportedly was attending a family wedding ceremony on Saturday. For that reason, he could not board the flight on which the rest of the team except Kedar Jadhav (Visa delay) traveled to England.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) stated that Rohit was granted a special permission by them to attend the wedding ceremony. He will board a late night flight on the same day and will join the team on Sunday. He will feature in the Indian team that will take on Bangladesh for their second warm-up game on 30th May.

Not only Rohit Sharma!

Rohit Sharma was not the only absentee from the roster. All-rounder Yuvraj Singh also missed the training sessions. But the reason was different for Singh. He is down with viral fever. But BCCI stated that he is recovering steadily. “There are no major health concerns and he is recuperating well, to the satisfaction of the medical team.” stated the media release of BCCI.

Yuvraj Singh is also expected to feature in the warm-up match against Bangladesh. After that match, India will travel to Birmingham where they will take on their arch-rivals Pakistan on 4th June at Edgbaston.