NEW DELHI : The first batch of the Indian team, including captain Rohit Sharma and star speedster Jasprit Bumrah, arrived in New York ahead of their T20 World Cup warm-up match against Bangladesh on June 1.
Rohit Sharma took to Instagram and shared a selfie with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and field coach T Dilip after they arrived in New York.
The first batch of Indian players departed from Mumbai airport on Saturday night.
Along with Rohit and Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, head coach Rahul Dravid, batting coach Vikram Rathour, batter Shubman Gill, all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Shivam Dube, pacers Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, and spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel were captured at the Mumbai airport.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, and Yuzvendra Chahal, who ended their Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign with Rajasthan Royals (RR) after a loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Friday are yet to join the team.
Kolkata Knight Riders’ batter Rinku Singh, who is playing the IPL final against SRH today at Chennai and star batter Virat Kohli, whose team Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) lost to RR in the eliminator on Friday, also haven’t linked up with the team yet.
India’s T20 World Cup campaign begins on June 5 against Ireland at the newly constructed Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York. India versus Pakistan clash will take place on June 9. They will later play tournament co-hosts USA (June 12) and Canada (June 15) to wrap up their Group A matches.
In the tournament, India will be aiming to end their ICC trophy drought, having last won the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013. Since then, India has reached the 50-over World Cup final in 2023, semifinal in 2015 and 2019, the title clash of the ICC World Test Championship in 2021 and 2023, T20 WC final in 2014, semifinals in 2016 and 2022 but failed to secure a big ICC trophy.
India will be aiming to win their first T20 WC title ever since they won the inaugural edition of the tournament back in 2007 in South Africa. In the last edition held in Australia in 2022, India lost to England by 10 wickets in the semifinals.
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj
Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan. (ANI)