Kohli skips pink-ball warm-up game, India opt to bat

Sydney: India captain Virat Kohli on Friday opted out of the day-night warm-up game against Australia A, deciding to give his body some rest after having played in all the preceding limited-overs matches.

With Kohli sitting out of the pink-ball tour match, the seasoned Ajinkya Rahane is leading the team at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The game is more of a simulation ahead of the series-opening day-night Test, which will be played with a pink ball from December 17 to 21 at Adelaide.

The touring Indians don’t have enough experience of facing the pink ball in top-flight cricket, having played only one such Test against Bangladesh last year.

India though won that game, held at the Eden Gardens, by a handsome margin of innings and 46 runs.

Australia have played in quite a few pink-ball day-nighters over the last few years.

After Adelaide, the matches will be played at Melbourne (from December 26 to 30), Sydney and Brisbane in January.

Four members of Australia’s Test squad are playing in the tour game-opening batsman Joe Burns, all-rounder Cameron Green, pace bowler Sean Abbott and leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson.

India are coming into the game after having won the T20I series 2-1 following a loss in the ODI rubber by a similar margin.

Teams:

India: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant, Wriddhiman Saha, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah.

Australia A: Joe Burns, Marcus Harris, Nic Maddinson, Ben McDermott, Cameron Green, Jack Wildermuth, Alex Carey, Sean Abbott, Will Sutherland, Mitch Swepson, Harry Conway.