The Australia captain, Aaron Finch, said David Warner was “shaken up” after his drive hit a net bowler in the head as they prepared for Sunday’s match against India.

Australia’s practice session at the Oval came to an abrupt halt when the bowler, Jaykishan Plaha, dropped to the ground after being hit on the head as he tried to stop Warner’s shot.

Finch said Plaha was in “pretty good spirits”, but the incident had rattled the batsman. “Dave was pretty shaken up,” he said. “The young guy [has] been taken off to hospital and will continue to be assessed just to make sure that everything is OK. But yeah, Dave was pretty shaken up, no doubt.

“It was a decent hit to the head. Hopefully, everything keeps going well for the youngster and he’s back up and running shortly. It was tough to watch. It’s quite rare that somebody gets hit and it’s very unfortunate.“

In 2014, Warner was playing in the Sheffield Shield match when his friend Phillip Hughes was hit in the neck by a bouncer. Hughes underwent emergency surgery, but died two days after the game, three days before his 26th birthday.

Looking to Sunday’s game, Finch said his side drew confidence from they way they batted against the spinners during their 3-2 ODI series victory in India in March.

“They’ve got some all-time great players. So to be able to beat them in their home conditions three times in a row was really important for the confidence of the side, especially going into a game like this.“

Australia will once again need to find a way to negate the threat posed by India’s pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah, whose new ball spells, as well as his yorkers at the end, have made him a batsman’s nightmare.

Finch said Australia had done their homework and there was no need to overhaul technique to face the Indian quick. “You do your due diligence on every bowler every game,” he said. “He’s a world-class bowler. He’s had a lot of success, especially over the last 18, 24 months. All the guys are as well prepared, mentally and technically, as they can be.”

India were the last team to play in the tournament, beating South Africa by six wickets in Southampton last Wednesday with what their captain, Virat Kohli, described as “a professional effort”.

They will need that and more at the Oval in a heavyweight contest featuring teams who have won seven of the last nine World Cups. They met in a five-match series in March in India, where Australia rallied from 2-0 down to win 3-2 and got their mojo back after losing six series in a row.

Kohli does not expect his batting lineup to change, though the bowlers will be, depending on conditions. Morning starts make a difference, but Kohli is not worried about defending a low score. “If the pitch demands us to get 260, 270, 280 or just get to 300, we know with our bowling attack any score is defendable with the kind of skillset that we have,” he said.

“That is the belief we have in our side. So we don’t necessarily need to look at any other side based on the conditions.”

Kohli also said the past counts for nothing and that India’s main goal is to avoid the second-match blues. “It depends on how the side turns out [on the day], what kind of mental set-up they have. We have to be mentally and skilfully stronger than the opposition, whoever we play, to win on the day. Our focus will be that.”