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Team India will kickstart their final preparations for the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 with a face-off against Bangladesh in their lone warm-up encounter before the main event. The match is scheduled for Saturday (June 1) at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.
India’s captain, Rohit Sharma, won the toss and elected to bat first. Though the match holds lesser significance in terms of outcome, serving primarily as a platform to fine-tune strategies, fans have begun expressing disappointment over Virat Kohli’s absence.
Kohli, the former skipper, wasn’t part of the squad that traveled to the USA last month, despite the conclusion of his IPL season in the league stages. Reports suggest he had sought a break, which was granted by the BCCI with the provision to join the team later. Alongside him, Hardik Pandya was also initially absent.
Both players have since rejoined the squad in New York. However, while Pandya is set to feature in the warm-up match against Bangladesh, Kohli will not be participating. Rohit Sharma confirmed this during the toss.
“We will bat. Not for any particular reason, conditions here look a bit challenging. Virat has just arrived yesterday, he’s going to miss out, the rest are all available and we’ll see how to use them. We arrived quite early, so the body clock has adjusted, we just have to see how well we can adjust to these conditions.
A stunning campaign in the IPL for Virat Kohli:
While Virat Kohli is drawing criticism for his absence from the warm-up match against Bangladesh, concerns about his form seem unwarranted given his outstanding performance in the recently concluded IPL 2024.
After a hiatus of nearly two months to spend time with his wife and newborn son, the former India captain made a spectacular return to the field during the IPL. Emerging as the tournament’s leading run-scorer, he amassed an impressive 741 runs in 14 matches, including a century and five half-centuries. India will be banking on Kohli to maintain this form during the T20 World Cup.
Team Lineups:
Bangladesh:
Litton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Towhid Hridoy, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Jaker Ali (w), Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Shoriful Islam, Tanzid Hasan, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Tanvir Islam
India:
Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (w), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
