NEW DELHI, May 29
Virat Kohli could be a doubtful starter for India’s lone warm-up fixture ahead of the ICC men’s T20 World Cup, against Bangladesh on June 1 at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, as the star batter is the only one yet to join the squad that underwent their first training session after reaching New York City.
There has been no official update on Kohli’s travel status from the BCCI yet, although sources confirmed that the former India skipper is set to fly out in the next couple of days. However, it remains to be seen whether the 35-year-old features in the warm-up match, depending on the gap between him landing and the game. Meanwhile, the rest of the members of the squad, whose teams were involved in the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs, along with Hardik Pandya, have joined the first batch of players who left for the US after their respective IPL franchises were eliminated from the race to the playoffs.
Soham Desai, the team’s strength and conditioning coach provided an idea of the routine being followed by the players, who have all been part of the grind at IPL 2024 over the past couple of months and are easing into match-readiness. “Eased into our routines here, the idea was to just get used to the time zone,” Desai said in a video posted by the BCCI on social media. “We’ve not yet played cricket. We’ve come here for a team activity today. Hopefully it will be good. The weather is really good. So looking forward,” pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah said.
In the video, the players could be seen warming up, doing some basic strength-and-conditioning exercises, along with some drills with a football.
“They have been away for two-and-a-half months from us (the national team setup). Just getting them together to know where they stand, what needs to be done before the World Cup was the goal,” Desai said of the Tuesday session. “(The) goal is to spend 45 minutes to an hour there on the park to again get going. We want to see them move. We want to see them run so that we can put enough plans in place for each guy to be ready for the first game,” he added. Hardik, who took a short break after the IPL before joining the national team, expressed his excitement on the prospects of playing in a new part of the world and spoke on “the good vibe”, while Ravindra Jadeja was expecting to have “super, super fun”, and Suryakumar Yadav felt the first day out “was amazing”.
India’s first game at the T20 World Cup will be on June 5, against Ireland, followed by group-stage fixtures against Pakistan on June 9, USA on June 12, and Canada on June 15.
The first three games will be played in New York and the last in Lauderhill, Florida.
After conclusion of the group stage, the Super Eight fixtures, semi-finals, and final will be played in the West Indies.
