India vs England warm-up match ahead of the ICC World Cup 2023 has been called off due to unstoppable rain in Guwahati on Saturday.
Not a single ball could be bowled for today's encounter as the rain, which started right after the toss, did not stop all day, eventually forcing the match umpires to call it off.
Earlier today, India won the toss and opted to bat first during their first warm-up match of the ICC World Cup 2023 against England at the Barsapara Stadium.
Men in Blue were starting the mega tournament on a high note after winning the Asia Cup 2023 and the three-match One Day International (ODI) series against Australia.
On the other hand, England had just defeated Ireland and New Zealand before travelling to India. The return of their Test skipper, Ben Stokes, who scored the highest individual ODI score for England, will be the key for the team during the tournament.
England are the defending champions, they clinched their maiden World Cup by defeating New Zealand in 2019 in a nail-biter which was decided on boundary count after 612 balls — including super over — couldn’t decide the winner.
It must be noted that the warm-up matches will consist of 50 overs per side. However, these matches won't have ODI status because teams will have the flexibility to include all 15 members of their squad in the playing XI.
The ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 will take place in India with 10 teams fighting for the elusive title across ten venues from October 5 to November 19, with the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad hosting the tournament opener and the final.
Squads:
England: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (c & wk), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Gus Atkinson, Reece Topley
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah
