New York, May 26: Skipper Rohit Sharma was among the 10 India squad members that landed here on Sunday morning for the T20 Word Cup with Virat Kohli and vice-captain Hardik Pandya being the notable absentees in the first batch of arrivals.
Also part of the travelling party was head coach Rahul Dravid and the rest of the support staff.Rohit, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel were among the players who arrived here. Reserve players Shubman Gill and Khaleel Ahmed were also with them.
Kohli, who played the IPL Eliminator in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, will link up with the rest of the squad later and likewise for Hardik, who had gone to the UK after the completion of the IPL league stage. In his first year as Mumbai Indians captain, the five-time champions failed to make the play-offs.
India will play their only World Cup warm-up against Bangladesh at the brand new Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, where they play three leagues games including the blockbuster clash against Pakistan on June 9.As they play bulk of their league games at the same venue, India would want to make most of the warm-up game and get an idea of the conditions.
The work on the modular stadium with a drop in pitch was completed earlier this month with the construction only starting in January.
India, who have not won an ICC title since 2013, play Ireland in their World Cup opener on June 5. USA is co-hosting an ICC event for the first time and its national team will also be making its debut in the global competition. India’s vice-captain Hardik Pandya will be linking up with the Rohit Sharma-led side in New York on Sunday afternoon ahead of the upcoming Men’s T20 World Cup. Pandya was a notable omission in visuals of first batch of Indian team players and support staff departing for New York from Mumbai on Saturday night.
A report in Cricbuzz on Sunday said, Pandya had been vacationing overseas at an undisclosed location after Mumbai Indians’ campaign ended in IPL 2024 with a defeat to Lucknow Super Giants at the Wankhede Stadium, and is now on his way to New York to link up with the Indian team for the showpiece event starting from June 1.Pandya had a torrid time in IPL 2024, where he was constantly under the spotlight for his disappointing all-round performances post an ankle injury layoff and was even booed by the crowd in both home and away games.With the bat, Hardik amassed just 216 runs in 14 matches of IPL 2024 at an average of 18 and a strike-rate of 143.05. With the ball, he picked 11 wickets at an economy-rate of 10.75 and average of 35.18.
A lot was expected from him as a leader, especially after he captained Gujarat Titans to IPL 2022 title and IPL 2023 runners-up finish. .
The report added that Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Avesh Khan, who played for Rajasthan Royals in Qualifier 2 of IPL 2024 in Chennai on May 24, will join the team later, so as traveling reserve Rinku Singh, who will be playing in the IPL title clash on Sunday night. It also said Virat Kohli sought permission to join the squad late. (Agencies)
