The first group of Indian cricket players, including captain Rohit Sharma, star bowler Jasprit Bumrah, and top-ranked T20I batter Suryakumar Yadav, departed for the United States ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup, which starts on June 1. At Mumbai airport, in addition to Rohit, Bumrah, and Suryakumar, head coach Rahul Dravid, batting coach Vikram Rathour, batsman Shubman Gill, all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Shivam Dube, pacers Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, and spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel were also spotted.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, and Yuzvendra Chahal, who just concluded their IPL campaign with Rajasthan Royals after a loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad, as well as Kolkata Knight Riders' Rinku Singh, who is playing in the IPL final against SRH, and star batter Virat Kohli, whose team Royal Challengers Bangalore lost to RR in the eliminator, have yet to join the team.
India's T20 World Cup campaign kicks off on June 5 against Ireland at the newly constructed Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York. The highly anticipated India versus Pakistan match is scheduled for June 9. Subsequently, India will play the USA on June 12 and Canada on June 15 to complete their Group A matches.
India aims to end their ICC trophy drought, having last secured the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013. Since then, they have reached various finals and semifinals in ICC events but have not clinched a title. India will be striving to win their first T20 World Cup title since their triumph in the inaugural edition in 2007. In the previous edition in 2022, India lost to England 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, Mohammed Siraj.
Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan.
