MUMBAI : Star batter Virat Kohli on Thursday evening boarded the flight to the USA to join the Indian squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
Before entering the Mumbai airport, he was clicked by the shutterbugs. He was also seen giving an autograph to a young fan at the airport.
The paps also thanked Kohli for giving them an amazing gift.
Recently, Kohli and his wife and actor Anushka Sharma sent out thoughtful gift hampers to the paparazzi for safeguarding and respecting their kids, Vamika and Akaay’s privacy.
On being thanked by the media, Kohli was quick to point out that it was Anushka’s idea.
India will start their T20 World Cup campaign on June 5 against Ireland at the newly constructed Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.
Meanwhile, the most-awaited blockbuster clash between India and Pakistan 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 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 (ANI)