GUWAHATI: Much before India announced the final 15-member World Cup squad late on Thursday night, social media was abuzz with Ravichandran Ashwin landing in Guwahati for their first official warmup game of the tournament. Left-arm spinner Axar Patel, who failed to recover in time to retain his name in the final squad, was conspicuous by his absence.
The Men in Blue started arriving in the city in batches starting early evening and the senior off-spinner could be seen in the first group comprising the likes of Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul and captain Rohit Sharma himself. Head coach Rahul Dravid and batting coach Vikram Rathour were there, too, in the first batch.
