After a successful tour of England, India have their next assignment in West Indies, a limited-over tours, where KL Rahul will be aiming to make a comeback to the team after several months away due to injury, and hence is preparing himself for the crucial tour. He is speedily trying to prove himself fit after surgery on a hernia in Germany last month. To that effect, he has taken to practicing at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, exposing himself to other top-level cricketers who are using it as a training base for themselves. In a video which has gone viral, two top-quality Indian cricketers Rahul and Jhulan Goswami have been pictured practicing with each other in the nets at the NCA.
The video, captured by an on-looker at the NCA, sees Rahul timing the ball well against Goswami's bowling, while a second video shows Goswami forcing Rahul to leave a ball which landed perfectly. It is certainly a very interesting video, with men's cricket and women's cricket in India not interacting with each other all too often, and shows two of the finest cricketers on each team plying their trades against one another.
At 39 years of age, Goswami is still going strong for her team, but would have been disappointed with the under-par showing at the World Cup this year as the team failed to qualify for the knockout stages in New Zealand. She hasn't played international cricket since that tournament in March 2022, and was rested for the series in Sri Lanka, but this indicates she plans to return to international action soon. She will not join the team for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, having retired from T20I cricket, but should be back in action as the Women in Blue tour England in September.
{{/usCountry}}At 39 years of age, Goswami is still going strong for her team, but would have been disappointed with the under-par showing at the World Cup this year as the team failed to qualify for the knockout stages in New Zealand. She hasn't played international cricket since that tournament in March 2022, and was rested for the series in Sri Lanka, but this indicates she plans to return to international action soon. She will not join the team for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, having retired from T20I cricket, but should be back in action as the Women in Blue tour England in September.
{{/usCountry}}Rahul has sat out of all cricket since the conclusion of the IPL in May, where he led the Lucknow Super Giants to a playoff finish. Since then, a hernia and the subsequent surgery on it has kept him out of action, forcing him to miss the series against South Africa, where he was expected to be captain, and in the tour of England. However, he is expected to return to the team in the West Indies series beginning on July 22, subject to fitness, and might be using the nets at the NCA to ramp up preparation and judge whether he's fit to play next week.
India's women's team will be hoping for a strong showing at the Commonwealth Games being held in Birmingham, which will be played as T20Is. They will be up against top-quality opposition, but will hope their young brigade can see them through. The men's team will hope to continue the momentum of a series win in England, and produce a dominant performance in the Caribbean, before turning their attention to the Asia Cup next month.