According to reports, Rohit Sharma was the only frontline batter who did not practice in the nets ahead of the Champions Trophy 2025 match against New Zealand.
In a practice session on Wednesday before the Champions Trophy 2025 match against New Zealand, Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma was the only frontline batsman to avoid the nets, the Times of India reported. At the International Cricket Council (ICC) Academy, Indian players trained for the first time after defeating Pakistan. While all players warmed up by playing football and running laps, Rohit did not engage in any physically demanding exercises. The article said that he “jogged gently under the watch of Strength & Conditioning coach Soham Desai” but was not moving freely.
Virat Kohli spent a lot of time facing spinners while bowling coach Morne Morkel returned to the team after attending to a personal emergency back home. Rohit sustained a hamstring injury during the match against Pakistan, but he claimed during the post-match presentation that he was doing fine and there was no reason for concern. This report claims that Rohit did not experience any throwdowns and only engaged in some shadow batting while speaking with head coach Gautam Gambhir and the other coaching staff. Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, and Kuldeep Yadav were among the players Virat faced during the training session. Prior to the match against New Zealand on Sunday, Virat spent almost 30 minutes batting the net bowlers.
During the session, Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh were committed to giving it their all, and pace bowling mainstay Mohammed Shami was also spotted bowling at full power, swinging the ball both ways and tapping Kohli twice on his pads.
All of the bowlers appeared skilled and prepared to face the New Zealand test under Morkel’s cautious eye.A few days prior to India’s Champions Trophy opening match against Bangladesh on February 20, Morkel was forced to depart the Indian camp.
While the players were warming up at the ICC Academy, the former South Africa pacer was observed engaging in a lengthy conversation with head coach Gautam Gambhir. The lone player to skip practice was Shubman Gill, who has been India’s most impressive batter in the competition.
