In Colombo, Virat Kohli and his men will be sweating it out on the eve of the one-off T20I against hosts Sri Lanka. The Men in Blue have completed whitewashes of Test (3-0) and ODI series (5-0) and will be looking to finish things off on a high when they take on Upul Tharanga's men in the shortest format on Wednesday, September 6.
Meanwhile, far away from the one-sided affairs in Sri Lanka, Ravichandran Ashwin and Cheteshwar Pujara, Kohli's go-to-men in whites, will be squaring off against each other in the England County Championship 2017 Division 2 match between Worcestershire and Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge from Tuesday, September 5.
Live scores of the match can be followed here. The first day's play starts at 10:30am local, 3pm IST.
Ashwin's match-winning effort on debut
Ashwin has made an instant impact with Worcestershire as he came up with an all-round effort in his County side's win against Gloucestershire last month. The world number three Test bowler picked up eight wickets, including a second-innings five-for, and hit 64 runs to win praise from his teammates.
On the other hand, Pujara, who rejoined Nottinghamshire after his exploits during the 3-0 Test win in Sri Lanka, played a key role in his side's win over Northamptonshire on August 31.
Notably, Nottinghamshire are placed first on the Divison 2 table with 204 points from 11 matches, while Worcestershire are at second spot with 172 points. Pujara and Ashwin will be the focus as both teams have a good chance of gaining a promotion to Division 1.
The moment: Ash with his 39th 5-fer in FC cricket & 1st in English soil! Well done Bhai @ashwinravi99 ? @prithinarayanan #countycricketlive pic.twitter.com/NkzWYuEXkZ
— Srini Mama ? (@SriniMama16) August 31, 2017
Twitter banter
Ashwin, who is one of the most busiest crickets on social media, took to Twitter on Monday, September 4, to express his excitement over playing against Pujara. Check out the Saurashtra batsman reply here.
The ride to Trent bridge begins, @cheteshwar1 look forward to catching up my friend. Big game against the Notts tom. pic.twitter.com/JHIDoZWMdX
— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) September 4, 2017
Looking forward to seeing you @ashwinravi99 its been long since I faced you ? https://t.co/CXuKuWu8LP
— cheteshwar pujara (@cheteshwar1) September 4, 2017
While Ashwin and Pujara are making their marks in county cricket, more Indian cricketers are expected to join the duo in the coming months as Team India are set to tour England next year. Team India pacer Ishant Sharma might be the third Indian from the current setup to land a county deal as he has been linked to Kent County Cricket Club.
Notably, India were thumped 3-1 the last time they visited England, in 2014. Kohli's team though, after dominating at home and in Sri Lanka, will be expected to fare better against Joe Root's men next year.
Meanwhile, India's head coach Ravi Shastri has revealed he is open to the idea of sending more players to county in order to get them prepared for tougher challenges in foreign conditions.
"Pujara, Ashwin and now Ishant [Sharma] is also going; I think he is joining Kent. These are vital and key players in our team. The more the players go, the merrier," Shastri said.
