IND vs ENG 2021: India to play 3-day match against County XI, schedule and streaming details announced
Durham's Riverside Ground is set to host a three-day practice between India and a County Championship XI to help the visitors prepare for the crucial five-Test rubber against Joe Root's England.
The match will get underway next Tuesday, July 20 at 11 AM local time/ 3:30 PM IST. 90 overs will be scheduled for each day and the match will be held behind closed doors. In what would be even better news for Indian fans, the whole game will be streamed live on Durham Cricket's YouTube channel.
The development comes weeks after Indian skipper Virat Kohli expressed his dissatisfaction with the lack of practice matches during the prolonged one-month gap between the World Test Championship final and the first India-England Test.
"That (getting practice matches) doesn't depend on us. We obviously wanted First-Class games, which, I believe, have not been given to us. I don't know what the reasons for that are but other than that I think our preparation time will be ample for us to be ready for the first Test," Virat Kohli had said in a press conference.
All Indian players are currently on a break with their families and will assemble in Durham for a pre-series camp on July 14.
Full schedule of India-England Test series
The 5-Test series, also known as the Pataudi Trophy, is of extreme importance to both India and England. This is the first series of the second WTC cycle and both Virat Kohli and Joe Root would love to forget about the previous season by stringing up some consistent performances this time around.
First Test: August 4-8, Nottingham - 3:30 PM IST
Second Test: August 12-16, Lord's - 3:30 PM IST
Third Test: August 25-29, Leeds - 3:30 PM IST
Fourth Test: September 2-6, The Oval - 3:30 PM IST
Fifth Test: September 10-14, Manchester - 3:30 PM IST