Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese welcomed the Indian cricket team to Parliament House on Wednesday, where he had a brief conversation with star players Jasprit Bumrah and Virat Kohli. A video shared on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) showed Indian captain Rohit Sharma introducing his teammates to the Prime Minister. During the introductions, Albanese spoke briefly with Bumrah and Kohli.
After the meeting, Albanese posted a photo with the players and expressed his excitement for the upcoming match. "Big challenge ahead for the PM’s XI at Manuka Oval this week against an amazing Indian side. But as I said to PM @narendramodi, I’m backing the Aussies to get the job done," he wrote.
The meeting took place ahead of India’s two-day warm-up game against the Prime Minister’s XI at Manuka Oval, scheduled for November 30 and December 1.
The Indian team is coming off a morale-boosting victory in the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test in Perth earlier this week. The warm-up match will provide captain Rohit Sharma, who missed the opener in Perth, with valuable game time ahead of the Pink-ball Test in Adelaide starting December 6.
Read Also | Rohit Sharma-Led Team Arrives in Canberra for Day-Night Match Against Prime Minister’s XI (Watch Video)
The last time India played a Pink-ball Test in Australia, they were bowled out for a historic low of 36 in the 2020/21 Border-Gavaskar series. The match against the Prime Minister’s XI will be crucial for India to fine-tune their preparations for the upcoming day-night Test in Adelaide.
The squads for the tour match include key Indian players such as Jasprit Bumrah, Shubman Gill, and Ravindra Jadeja, alongside the Prime Minister’s XI, led by Jack Edwards.
Squads:
Prime Minister’s XI: Jack Edwards (c), Charlie Anderson, Mahli Beardman, Scott Boland, Jack Clayton, Aidan O’Connor, Ollie Davies, Jayden Goodwin, Sam Harper, Hanno Jacobs, Sam Konstas, Lloyd Pope, Matthew Renshaw, Jem Ryan.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal.
Live Streaming Information:
- Venue: Manuka Oval, Canberra
- Dates: November 30 and December 1
- Start Time: 9:30 AM IST
- Live Streaming: Disney+ Hotstar
- Telecast: Star Sports Network
