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Kohli, Smith in spirit of cricket selfie

Indian Premier League captains gather in Hyderabad on the eve of the 2017 season

India captain Virat Kohli has joined Australian stars Steve Smith, David Warner and Glenn Maxwell for a ‘Spirit of Cricket’ selfie on the eve of the Indian Premier League season.

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Kohli joined his fellow IPL captains – including Smith (Pune), Warner (Hyderabad) and Maxwell (Kings XI) – for the group shot at the IPL captain’s meeting in Hyderabad on Tuesday, with Kohli sharing it on his personal Instagram account.


virat.kohli: The Spirit of cricket selfie. Let the best league in the world commence 😊👍👌. #ipl #spiritofcricket 

Also featured were fellow IPL skippers Suresh Raina (Gujarat), Zaheer Khan (Delhi), Gautam Gambhir (Kolkata), and Rohit Sharma (Mumbai), with the players happy to fool around for the camera at the event hosted by 2016 champions Hyderabad.

Quick single: All you need to know about the 2017 IPL

The 2017 IPL season comes hot on the heels of the bitterly-fought Border-Gavaskar series – which India claimed 2-1 – with Warner’s Sunrisers Hyderabad to line up against Kohli’s RCB in the tournament opener on Wednesday night.

Image Id: 2F83DED5959E4CD58E2156B2858E5418 Image Caption: Virat Kohli has some fun with David Warner // BCCI

But Bangalore will be without Kohli, who is continuing to recover from the shoulder injury that kept him out of the fourth Test in Dharamsala.

While tempers ran hot during the four-Test series, the tensions have cooled somewhat leading into the IPL, with Smith declaring he's fine with Rising Pune Supergiants teammate Ajinkya Rahane, Umesh Yadav insisting the bad blood has been left on the Test match arena and Kohli suggesting his we're-not-friends-anymore line referenced only a couple of Australian players.

Image Id: EB987329D5EF4C489C81C085EB8BC1CB Image Caption: Selfie time // BCCI

The 10th edition of the IPL will include 21 Australians, with pacemen Billy Stanlake and Andrew Tye in line to make their debuts.

Star KFC Big Bash League batsmen Chris Lynn and Aaron Finch will also feature, as will retired Test quick Mitchell Johnson.

There will also be a host of familiar faces behind the microphone, with former Australia captain Michael Clarke and ex-England batsman Kevin Pietersen joining the IPL broadcast team, where they’ll join Australian greats Mel Jones, Lisa Sthalekar, Mike Hussey, Matthew Hayden and Brett Lee, alongside the likes of Sanjay Manjrekar, Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar.