Former India captain Rohit Sharma he arrived in London early to begin preparations for the upcoming three-ODI series against England, starting July 14 in Birmingham. TimesofIndia.com has learned that Rohit has already had a couple of full sessions at local clubs in and around London with his close friends and bowlers from the local club.Slough Cricket Club, located in the heart of Berkshire, was Rohit’s first destination before he moved to Swyncombe Cricket Club near Blondin Park. Rohit, who now plays only ODIs for the country, wanted to acclimatise before joining the team in Birmingham. The experienced campaigner is aware of the challenges of playing in these conditions and wants to be fully prepared before the action gets underway. The 39-year-old enjoys playing in England and has a phenomenal ODI record. In the 27 matches, the right-hander amassed 1428 runs at an average of 64.9 and hit seven hundreds – the most by a visiting batsman. Rohit didn’t play much cricket due to his hamstring injury ahead of the ODI against Afghanistan, but he still managed to finish the assignment on a high with a knock of 79 runs in Chennai. It wasn’t the smoothest of starts, but the former captain hit the right gear and looked in touch before being dismissed by Mohammed Nabi. India desperately need their experienced batsman to fire on all cylinders in England as the T20I team is in the midst of a horror show. The batsmen have failed to acclimatize and adapt to the conditions, and are clearly nursing a hangover from playing in batting havens in the IPL. There were many concerns about Rohit’s fitness ahead of the Afghanistan series, but he played and batted without any discomfort and is believed to be in top form ahead of the games in Birmingham, Cardiff and London.