Former India captain Rohit Sharma has reached London early to begin preparations for the upcoming three-ODI series against England, starting July 14 in Birmingham. TimesofIndia.com has learnt that Rohit has already had a couple of full-fledged sessions at local clubs in and around London with his close friends and local club bowlers.Slough Cricket Club, located in the heart of Berkshire, was Rohit’s first destination before he moved to the Swyncombe Cricket Club near Blondin Park. Rohit, who now plays only ODIs for the country, wanted to acclimatise before joining the team in Birmingham. The experienced campaigner is aware of the challenges of playing in these conditions and wants to be fully prepared before action gets underway. The 39-year-old enjoys playing in England and has a phenomenal ODI record. In the 27 matches, the right-hander has accumulated 1428 runs at an average of 64.9 and hit seven hundreds – the most by a visiting batter.
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Rohit didn’t play much cricket because of his hamstring injury before the ODIs against Afghanistan but still managed to finish the assignment on a high with a 79-run knock in Chennnai. It wasn’t the smoothest start but the former captain hit the right gear and looked in top touch before being dismissed by Mohammed Nabi. India desperately needs its experienced batter to fire on all cylinders in England as the T20I team is in the middle of a horror show. The batters have failed to acclimatise and adapt to the conditions, and are clearly nursing the hangover of playing on batting paradises in the IPL. There were some concerns around Rohit’s fitness prior to the Afghanistan series but he fielded and batted without any discomfort and is believed to be in top physical shape ahead of the fixtures in Birmingham, Cardiff and London.
