Rohit Sharma’s picturesque lakeside getaway

India’s veteran opener Rohit Sharma, 39, is away on a trip with wife Ritika to both relax and recharge his batteries following the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan and ahead of the ODI with England, beginning on July 14.

He Instagrammed this picture lakeside with some misty mountains in the background. It received 3.8 million ‘likes’. amunra-online.pl

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India vs England 2026 T20: The entire world is eagerly waiting for 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to play his first game in Indian colours in international cricket. Ever since he was selected for the twin T20I tours of Ireland and England by the BCCI selectors, the expectations have been sky-high for Sooryavanshi to make his Team India debut and in the process become the youngest-ever cricketer to play for Team India.

New Team India skipper Shreyas Iyer disappointed every in the two-match T20I series defeat against Ireland by refusing to select Sooryavanshi in the playing 11 and handed debuts to Prince Yadav and Suryansh Shedge instead. Now India are getting ready to begin a five-match T20I series against England at the Chester-le-Street in Durham on Wednesday and the question on everyone’s mind is whether Sooryavanshi will finally get his maiden Indian cap in this match.

Former India, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings batter Ambati Rayudu feels that the team management made the right call in not selecting Sooryavanshi in playing 11 just yet.

“I think they did the right thing. I think it’s a good learning curve for Sooryavanshi to be in the dressing room, to know the nitty-gritties of what is required to play in the Indian side, what his role would be. There’ll be a lot of learning that he’ll take from these games and eventually, whenever he gets his opportunity, he’ll be much better prepared,” Rayudu told India.com in an exclusive interaction ahead of the India vs England T20I series.

“There are players ahead of Sooryavanshi, who have done well in the past for India, they won the T20 World Cup for India. They should be persisted with and whenever an opportunity arises, Sooryavanshi will be better prepared,” Rayudu added.

Also Read | India vs England 2026: Scope for Suryakumar Yadav to make a COMEBACK, says Ambati Rayudu

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi became the youngest-ever player to win the Orange Cap in the IPL 2026 season, scoring 776 runs at a strike-rate of 237.3. He was retained for Rs 1.1 crore by Rajasthan Royals ahead of IPL 2026 season.

Rayudu feels that Sooryavanshi still needs a couple of years before he can be a regular in international cricket. “Sooryavanshi being in T20 is a great sign for him as well as for Indian cricket. I think that is where he should start off with. But with the ODI World Cup around the corner, I think the guys who have done really well in the past one or two years in that format, even in domestic cricket, should be persisted with,” Rayudu, who scored 4348 runs in 2024 IPL matches with 1 century and 22 fifties, said.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi shouldn’t tweak his game much: Ambati Rayudu

The 40-year-old former India batter feels Sooryavanshi shouldn’t make too many changes in his batting technique yet. Sooryavanshi came into the T20I series vs Ireland on the back of world record 11-ball fifty for India A against Sri Lanka A in the 50-over tri-series final en route to scoring 94.

“At the moment, I will definitely not tweak anything much because you don’t want to really get him to second-guess his shots. Learning will happen along the way but he should just play his natural game, stick to it. The ball might not do as much as it is being doing in Ireland, the wickets will be slightly better off in the UK,” Rayudu said about Sooryavanshi.

(Watch India Tour of England 2026 – England vs India – 1st T20I on July 1, 2026, from 10 PM IST live on Sony Sports Ten 1 SD & HD, Sony Sports Ten 5 SD & HD and Sony MAX)

Harmanpreet Kaur was on Tuesday retained as India captain for this year’s Asian Games in Japan despite the team’s earlier-than-expected exit from the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in England.

The Women’s Selection Committee named a 15-member squad for the Asian Games, scheduled to be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4. The team’s World Cup campaign ended on Sunday after a group stage loss to Australia.

The Indian women’s team will enter the Asian Games as defending champions, having won the gold medal at the event’s previous edition in Hangzhou, China, in 2023.

Smriti Mandhana will continue to be Harmanpreet’s deputy.

Wicketkeeper-batter Yastika Bhatia is the only player to be dropped from the World Cup squad and in her place G Kamalini has been drafted into the side.

Shreyanka Patil, who was ruled out with an ankle injury in the middle of the World Cup, has been included in the squad but her availability will be subject to fitness.

Harmanpreet will be supported in the batting line-up by Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh, while the bowling responsibilities will largely be shouldered by Deepti Sharma, Renuka Singh, Shree Charani, Arundhati Reddy and Nandni Sharma.

India’s squad for the 2026 Asian Games

Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), G Kamalini (wk), Bharti Fulmali, Sree Charani, Renuka Thakur, Kranti Gaud, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Radha Yadav, Nandni Sharma.

Cricket is set to return to the Olympics after 128 years as ICC and IOC confirmed the qualification pathway for the T20 events at the LA 2028 Games. India’s women’s team have qualified as they are Asia’s No. 1 side.

“Cricket’s return to the Olympics is a landmark moment for our sport and a powerful opportunity to showcase the very best of cricket to the world,” ICC Chairman Jay Shah said.

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