Virat Kohli and his men in Durham cheer for team India in Colombo

Such are the times that two of India’s cricketing teams are competing at the same time. While the one is in Durham, the other one is facing Sri Lanka for the white-ball series. India’s warm-up game didn’t go according to plan, but their second ODI game against the Lankan Lions went according to the script as the Men in Blue won a thriller just by three wickets on Tuesday, 20 July.

Deepak Chahar with a brilliant unbeaten 69, led India to one of the most epic rearguard actions seen in the history of ODI cricket. Cheering for the boys were Virat Kohli-led India, who were themselves involved in the practice game in Durham, ahead of the five-match Test series against England.

In the video uploaded by the BCCI on their official Twitter account, Kohli can be seen along with head coach Ravi Shastri, Shardul Thakur, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Ishant Sharma backing and cheering for the boys.

When #TeamIndia in Durham cheered for #TeamIndia in Colombo.

From dressing room, dining room and on the bus, not a moment of this memorable win was missed. 🙌 #SLvIND pic.twitter.com/IQt5xcpHnr

— BCCI (@BCCI) July 20, 2021

Speaking about the match, Sri Lanka had posted a fighting total of 275 on the board. While chasing a steep target, the Indians strutted in the replay and were down and out when they lost seven wickets for just 193 runs. But Chahar didn’t lose hope and kept scoring boundaries for India and kept with the asking rate.

As he took India closer and closer to the target, the pressure got to the Lankans and,= India registered one of their most memorable victories in recent times.

Indian Test side off to a sedate start at Durham

Meanwhile, the Indian Test team who got to play their practice game were not seen at their best of the elements. With Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahne not playing, the onus was on stand-in captain Rohit Sharma, but he got out early for nine and so did Mayank Agarwal, Pujara, and Hanuma Vihari- who registered low scores.

But there was a fightback from KL Rahul who scored a century and helped India finish on a competitive score of 306 for nine. He was well supported by all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja who scored 75 runs. The three-day warm-up match will finish on Thursday and India will play their first Test match on August 04.