After facing a humiliating 3-0 loss in the ODI series against New Zealand, the Indian cricketers have some time to chill with their fellow teammates as they play the Black Caps in the first Test from February 21. Indian skipper Virat Kohli along with actress Anushka Sharma spent some quality time at the beautiful Palm Springs in Putaruru.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) shared a set of pictures on their official Twitter handle in which the players can be seen hiking at the gorgeous tourist destination. Kohli and co can be seen enjoying their leisure time until the Test series starts.
They captioned the photos as, “A long walk by the Blue Springs and a whole lot of fun with the teammates, that’s how #TeamIndia spent the day off ahead of the Test series.”
Players like Mayank Agarwal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Prithvi Shaw, Navdeep Saini, Wriddhiman Saha, Rishabh Pant, and many people from the coaching staff were enjoying the hike.
A long walk by the Blue Springs and a whole lot of fun with the team mates, that's how #TeamIndia spent the day off ahead of the Test series. pic.twitter.com/TPmIisqW8v
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 13, 2020
After some time, Mohammad Shami also shared a picture on Instagram that showed Anushka Sharma was also present with beau Virat Kohli. Kohli, Anushka, Shami, and Navdeep Saini were all smiles while posing for the camera.
The trip happened just a day before the tour against the New Zealand XI and what happened today will raise a few question marks on the timings of the trip. The Indians started the day on a disastrous note as they lost three of their crucial wickets under the span of the first 10 runs. Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill scored ducks while Mayank Agarwal could only score 1 run.
Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihari were the saving graces for India as they stitched an amazing 179-run stand to take India over the 200-run mark. Meanwhile, Wriddhiman Saha and Ravichandran Ashwin also went back to the pavilion without even opening their accounts. Eight of India’s eleven players could not even the double digits and four of them could not even open their accounts.
Indian captain Virat Kohli did not bat. The match is devoid of the first-class status as the teams chose to use all the players in their squads for the match.
Kiwi fast bowler Scott Kuggeleijn pierced through the Indian batting line up and scalped three wickets while the leg-spinner Ish Sodhi also got 3 wickets to his name.
The first Test between India and New Zealand will commence from February 21 in Wellington.
