Led by skipper Rohit Sharma, the first batch of Indian cricketers departed for the United States on Saturday for the T20 World Cup starting June 2. The squad includes pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, top-ranked T20I batter Suryakumar Yadav, head coach Rahul Dravid and batting coach Vikram Rathou. Other key players in the contingent are Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Kuldeep Yadav, and Axar Patel.
Few players, including star batter Virat Kohli, who are part of the IPL teams which reached the playoffs, are yet to leave for the T20 showpiece.
While Rajasthan Royals had beaten Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Eliminator on Wednesday, they suffered a loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 2 on Friday night.
SRH will face Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday.
Thus, players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson and Yuzvendra Chahal have not joined 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.
The T20 World Cup will be jointly hosted by the USA and the West Indies from June 2 to June 29.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)
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Published: 26 May 2024, 07:55 AM IST